The other day, I was on Facebook trying not to waste too much time, and I saw a particular post I want to discuss.
I have several friends who could be considered politically leftist. Some would use the term liberal, but that isn’t really accurate, unless you use the term only in its modern-day usage of meaning a leftist. Likewise, the term progressive isn’t really accurate. They may be making progress in their own view, but pushing for big government and central planning is not my idea of progress.
Anyway, one of my Facebook friends, whom I haven’t seen in person for probably 20 years or more, is a far leftist to say the least. He is a self-identified socialist, as the term socialist has become acceptable again in some circles. It was abandoned for environmentalism when the Soviet Union fell, but now they call it democratic socialism or some variant.
My Facebook friend has major Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and I would also consider him to be a cultural Marxist. I’m not even sure how to define that term, but if I had to describe it, that would be this one Facebook friend. As hard as it is, I do find some common ground with him on foreign policy. To his credit, he has been critical of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for their wars and bomb droppings.
At the same time, perhaps my biggest frustration with him isn’t his socialist views, but the fact that he will tend to place more emphasis on special rights for transgender people than he does on innocent people being killed in foreign countries from U.S. bombs. In fact, he would probably place a higher priority on reining in corporate greed (by having more government, of course) than on stopping U.S. wars.
The other day, he posted a picture of Donald Trump’s approval ratings. It showed that Trump’s job approval stands at 47%. My Facebook friend said, “One of the hardest things about being smarter than most people is not acting like it. But man, I live in a country of f***ing morons. Of course I’d be one too if I placed absolute faith in polls after 2016.”
It was something in line with Hillary’s comments on the deplorables, except this was perhaps even more arrogant because he was explicitly stating how smart and enlightened he is. He tried to add both a little skepticism and humility with the last sentence.
I did not make a comment on the post, as I didn’t feel like getting into an argument, but the thought crossed my mind that I should post a picture of the percentage of people who favor socialism – because to me, favoring socialism is completely moronic.
Give Me the Shirt on Your Back
Those who preach socialism generally have no clue about economics. They probably can’t properly define socialism, which is the state’s ownership of the means of production. I am willing to accept some variations, but you can’t just flippantly say that we should have socialism because the Scandinavian countries have socialism and they seem like nice places to live. Countries such as Sweden and Norway are not socialist countries. They are welfare states and certainly have many government interventionist measures in their economies. But at the same time, they do have a system that still uses English common law as a basis, which means that property rights are still respected to a large degree, absent the somewhat high taxation.
If you really want to see socialism, then Venezuela is a clear-cut example, where the government really is nationalizing industries and controlling virtually all aspects of the economy that it is able to.
Even for the self-identified socialists who just want redistribution and equality, they are still mostly hypocrites. If we live in a society with no property rights, then that means I can just walk up to you and rip the shirt off of your back. Why should you be able to wear a shirt that I want? You don’t really own anything, so it is really up for grabs.
It is also noteworthy that my Facebook friend, along with most other leftists in the United States, probably lives better than 95% of the world’s population. If they want equality, they should start donating most of their stuff to Africa and South America.
Socialism, as it is advocated, is a system of violence. If you don’t actually see the violence, it is only because one party is obeying the dictates of the other. If someone robs a bank and walks out with a bunch of money without shots being fired, would you say there was no violence just because the bank employees and customers obeyed the dictates of the robber?
Humble Pie
When my Facebook friend made this comment, I don’t think he understood how foolish he was making himself look. He certainly surrounds himself with a disproportionate percentage of other leftists. The world he lives in confirms his world-view for the most part. He can’t fathom that someone would vote for Donald Trump, even though he does see some of the faults of Hillary Clinton.
He really thinks he is better than almost everyone else. And when it comes down to it, this is really the view of leftists. Maybe it is the view of some libertarians too, but libertarians don’t want to control people, even if they do think that others are dumber. Leftists think they are so smart that they should mold the world, and the people should listen and obey for their own good. If they don’t obey, that just means they are that much stupider.
There are many things I don’t like about Trump and his policies. But I can at least try to understand why some people would support him.
I think one problem with leftists in particular is that they translate being smart in some areas to being smart in everything. If someone gets an advanced degree and is really good in English and history, they might start to think they know everything. Even though they can’t have a coherent conversation about economics, they think they just know best.
When it comes to politics and economics, I really do believe that I know more than the vast majority of the population. But in this, I recognize that people can make better decisions for themselves than I can make for them, especially at the point of a gun, which is government.
I also don’t think I am necessarily smarter than someone just because I know more about economics, or the Federal Reserve, or libertarianism. There are many smart people who have little interest in these subjects. I know little about fixing cars. I am a terrible artist. I am not a great public speaker. I have a lot of weaknesses in areas where people are far better than me.
There are people I look up to in particular areas, and they aren’t necessarily libertarians. There are many entrepreneurs, and marketers, and even athletes, whom I admire for what they are able to do in their profession. I think I am smarter than these people when it comes to defending liberty, but I fully recognize that they are far smarter or better than me in other areas.
And I think this is an important distinction that my Facebook friend fails to realize. He thinks that if nearly half the population approves of Donald Trump, then that whole group of people is just stupid. He should have at least been self aware enough to say that they are stupid when it comes to politics. Unfortunately, I believe that he really does think these people are completely stupid overall.
In today’s world, we are bombarded with experts. We are told by the establishment that something must be true because the experts told us it is true. They want people to conform and to not question authority.
And that leads to my last point, which is that political beliefs are not just about how smart you are. There are other aspects. I would say the most important is morality. Maybe you really do think you can remake society by using government force to make a better place. But is that the moral thing to do?
And what if someone just doesn’t want to conform to what they are being told to do? What if they want to be free to make their own choices, even if some of those choices will be viewed later on as mistakes? Does that make someone less smart just because they want freedom to make choices?
In summary, I was able to get a good honest view from a hardcore leftist. I don’t know if he will ever change his mind with his radical socialist views.
As Mark Twain supposedly once said, it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.