Socialism

Progressivism Is An Imposter

by Richard M. Ebeling October 11, 2019

What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” This became an often-repeated popular line after its use in the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke. A 1950s Florida prison warden (played by actor Strother Martin) says those words after an insolent remark by one of the prisoners (played by Paul Newman) results in the warden lashing that prisoner with ...

Senator Warren’s Plan Shows the True Nature of Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance September 26, 2019

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a plan. Although her plan is about expanding Social Security, it is a strange coincidence that she released her plan on the very day she would be appearing onstage at a Democratic presidential debate alongside two other Democratic candidates near the top of the pack: the former vice president and senator Joe Biden and the ...

The Specter of Communism Is Haunting Illinois

by Laurence M. Vance September 1, 2019

A specter is haunting Illinois — the specter of communism. Although the governor of Illinois, Jay “J.B.” Pritzker, said earlier this summer, upon signing the state’s $40 billion budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, that the budget was balanced “for the first time in decades,” according to the state’s own actuarial calculations, the budget is actually billions in the red. ...

Why Republicans Are Powerless against Socialism

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2019

If we are to believe the Republicans, they are all that is holding back the forces of socialism from taking over the United States and replacing a free and capitalist society with an authoritarian and socialist society. Nothing could be further from the truth. After suffering the humiliating loss of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm election, and having ...

The Libertarian Angle: Misunderstanding Socialism (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation July 11, 2019

Socialism is growing in popularity with the young. One socialist society has failed after the other, and yet socialism retains respect. Why? FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Citadel professor Richard Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

There Is Such a Thing As a Free Lunch

by Laurence M. Vance July 8, 2019

Economists who say that there is no such thing as a free lunch are forgetting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). SNAP, formerly called the food stamp program, is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), but is operated by the ...

Americans Didn’t Need the Original New Deal

by Laurence M. Vance July 1, 2019

We have heard much this year about how much the country needs a Green New Deal to reverse the negative effects of climate change, ensure economic security, revamp the nation’s transportation system, restore damaged ecosystems, secure a sustainable environment, and achieve justice and equality. Overlooked in all of the analyses of the Green New Deal is that Americans didn’t ...

Why Neo-liberalism Is Really Neo-socialism

by Richard M. Ebeling June 7, 2019

If there is one common enemy that all opponents of individual liberty, free markets, and limited government seemingly can agree upon it is the “evil” of neo-liberalism. Everything that is hated in an open, competitive market society is summed into that word and condemned. The problem is that actual free market liberalism has nothing to do with its “neo-liberal” ...

All Socialisms Are Antisocial

by Richard M. Ebeling May 16, 2019

Those who have seen the 1982 Steven Spielberg movie Poltergeist may remember the scene when the little girl touches the snowy screen of her family’s television and says, “They’re here,” meaning the evil ghostly forces bringing death and destruction. Well, they are here: socialism, nationalism, protectionism, and political paternalism. The ghosts of collectivisms past have returned, and their harmful ...

The Dangers of the New Democratic Socialism

by Richard M. Ebeling April 3, 2019

In the ancient world, there was often a philosophy of life that the events surrounding man and the world he lived in went in circles and cycles. It certainly seems that way with the recent revival of the case for democratic socialism. After seeming to have been relegated to the dustbin of history following the collapse of Soviet-style socialism ...

Time to End the Postal Monopoly

by Laurence M. Vance April 1, 2019

After blaming the billions of dollars a year in losses by the United States Post Office (USPS) on its failure to charge Amazon enough to deliver its packages — “making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer” — Donald Trump, on April 12, 2018, signed Executive Order 13829, which established the Task Force on the United States ...

Political Contests Are Between Competing Socialisms

by Richard M. Ebeling March 15, 2019

Another election cycle has begun, even though it is less than a half a year since the November 2018 congressional elections. Donald Trump seems unlikely to face a serious challenger for his re-nomination as the Republican candidate for president (unless explosive revelations place his public standing in serious doubt in the coming months). But the Democratic field already has ...