This Independence Day, it’s worth reflecting on the juxtaposition between Hong Kong and China.
Hong Kong has embraced capitalism perhaps more than any other country in the world. So an effort by Communist China to force its will on the people of Hong Kong by allowing it to extradite citizens of Hong Kong led to a protest that drew more than two million people.
Having had a close-up view of what government control truly means, the people of Hong Kong want no part of it.
Here in the United States, meanwhile, socialism is in vogue and is increasing in popularity.
A 2018 Gallup poll found that Americans 18 to 29 years old favor socialism over capitalism 51% to 45%. Among Democrats of all ages, 57% favor socialism, while 47% favor capitalism.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is running for president as a socialist and many other Democratic are supporting policies that would make America a far more socialistic country.
But the closer America comes to socialism, the closer we come to losing our freedom. In a socialist country, the means of production, distribution and exchange are owned or fully controlled by the government. When the government is all-powerful, freedom inevitably comes to an end.
We’ve previously cited Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek, who wrote that socialism, while presented as a means of assuring equality, does so through “restraint and servitude,” while “democracy seeks equality in liberty.”
So if you favor socialism, think about what you would be sacrificing in exchange for “free” healthcare, “free” education and other government handouts.
Innovation. Your iPhone, personal computer, high-definition TV and other electronic products were created almost exclusively in the United States. A majority of new chemical entities (NCEs), i.e. life-saving drugs, originate in the United States. While it’s more complicated than we’re suggesting in today’s global economy, it’s safe to say that Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea are not innovating.
A high standard of living. A Pew Research Center analysis found that, based on income, “On a global scale, the vast majority of Americans are either upper-middle income or high income. And many Americans who are classified as ‘poor’ by the U.S. government would be middle income globally.” Socialist Venezuela increased its minimum wage last year – to the equivalent of 26 cents.
Quality. Government services are typically poorly run and managed, overpriced and inefficient. Do you really want the people who run the Veterans Administration handling your healthcare?
Corruption. Can you think of a single socialist country where corruption hasn’t been rampant? Scandanavian countries dialed back socialism years ago, even if many American socialists think of them as socialist utopias.
Equality. The selling point of socialism is that it creates equality. In reality, socialist leaders don’t rob from the rich and give to the poor. They rob from the rich and keep the money for themselves. We previously reported that while the people of Venezuela starve, the daughter of former ruler Hugo Chávez had a fortune estimated at $4.2 billion.
Freedom. In socialist countries, taxes are not collected to support social programs, but to control power. According to The Manhattan Institute, “in market-based systems taxation is regarded as an unfortunate burden, which is employed out of necessity to ensure that other priorities are achieved. In contrast, in socialist regimes, taxation is not regarded as an undesirable consequence, but as a means to prevent individuals from counterproductively controlling their collective economic destiny.”
This Fourth of July, let’s celebrate our independence and be thankful for the economic system that helped create it.
