Meme Brilliantly Expresses The TOTAL FAILURE of Socialism

CNS News discusses why America is engaging in socialism when most of the world is moving away from it, and how we can protect ourselves:

The utter irrationality of such efforts induces one to ask (1) why is America still engaging in socialism, when most of the world is moving away from it; and (2) how can we protect ourselves?

The short answer to the first question is that politicians and bureaucrats have strong incentives to misuse public resources by pretending that they are businessmen, and state and federal constitutions permit them to do so. The incentives are there because government-owned enterprises offer the politicians and bureaucrats who control them opportunities to reward friends and punish enemies. Politicians and bureaucrats also can win public support by depicting great potential benefits while suppressing full information about costs. Lakewood, Colorado, offers an excellent example: Officials tout the purported benefits of a light rail line through the city. But they say little about the system’s sparse ridership, the economic drain from its cost, and how the system “crowds out” more thrifty private alternatives.

Pro-socialist incentives can be changed in a number of ways. Discussing all of them is beyond the scope of this article. One example, however, is to hold politicians who promote or operate government-run enterprises personally liable for their deficits, at least in some situations.

Additionally, we need to amend state and federal constitutions to provide citizens with greater protection.

It’s been done before. In the 19th century, most states amended their constitutions to require balanced budgets and to limit state debt. They did so after several states went bankrupt because politicians refused to stop overspending on infrastructure projects.

Here are some examples of how we can respond at the state constitutional level:

• Constitutional provisions that authorize or require the state to operate certain enterprises, such as pension funds, should be repealed.
• Government pension funds should be transitioned to private ownership, subject to normal state regulation.
• School financing provisions should be amended so that state dollars follow the student rather than being funneled automatically into bureaucratic monopolies.
• Municipal ownership of businesses should be banned. Except in the most unusual situations, municipalities should be required to contract for most services rather than provide them in-house.
• State constitutions should require government accounting practices to adhere as closely as possible to their private-sector counterparts.
• Finally, politicians and government employees should receive fixed financial rewards, added to their pay, for adopting innovations that save taxpayer money.