Arguing with Socialists

Glenn Beck

• Publisher: Threshold Editions
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781982140502
• eBook ISBN: 9781982140526
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The New York Times bestselling author of The Great Reset arms you to the teeth with information necessary to debunk the socialist arguments that have once again become popular, and proves that the free market is the only way to go. With his trademark humor, Beck lampoons the resurgence of this bankrupt leftist philosophy with thousands of stories, facts, arguments and easy-to-understand graphics for anyone who is willing to ask the hard questions. He shows that this new shiny socialism is just the same as the old one: a costly and dangerous failure that leaves desperation, poverty, and bodies in its wake.

“THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIMES.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

TODAY’S ELECTIONS CAN BE SUCH AGONIZING PROCESSES THAT THE END OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION DOESN’T SEEM LIKE SUCH A BAD OPTION.

Sound familiar? It should. Not an election year goes by without swarms of media personalities, activists, “community organizers,” and politicians screeching at the top of their lungs about the threats of the present age and how if their side loses—enter the political party of your choice here—it would be the end of human civilization as we know it. This is my tenth consecutive “most important election,” and I think it’s a safe bet that the next one will be just as dire.

I’m not trying to minimize the problems Americans are facing today or the important choices we’re going to have to make over the next few decades if we’re going to survive the twenty-first century. We really are living in a remarkable, disruptive, and dangerous time.

When Donald Trump says that many “skilled craftsmen and tradespeople and factory workers have seen the jobs they loved shipped thousands of miles away,” and that in some parts of the country, whole communities have been “plunged into depression-level unemployment,” he’s right.¹

When Bernie Sanders laments that “half of the country lives paycheck to paycheck as tens of millions of our people are an accident, a divorce, a sickness, or a layoff away from economic devastation,” he’s right, too.²

Ted Cruz is right when he says that “every student deserves a great education,” but that “too many young Americans are denied those opportunities” because America’s school system is in “grave” shape.³

And Elizabeth Warren is right when she says, “Families are getting crushed by health costs,” and that because of high health insurance deductibles, health insurance for many “is like a car with the engine missing. It looks fine sitting on the lot, but it is inadequate if they actually need to use it.”⁴ (Thanks, Liz, for outlining some of the failures of Obamacare so eloquently.)

But if you think for even one moment that many of these problems will be solved if we elect the “right” party in the next election—whether Republican or Democratic—then you haven’t been paying attention. We could elect the “right” party every election for the next dozen “most important elections” and we would still end up with more crises than we started with. Political parties are equal opportunity offenders when it comes to creating crises.

This isn’t because the challenges we’re facing are insurmountable. I don’t wake up each morning in despair. Technically, I wake up every morning in a SpongeBob onesie, a lengthy discussion of which was cut by the publisher.

We can make America better than it has ever been. But not if we put our faith in politicians, or any human being, for that matter. America has been able to survive endless switching between Team Red and Team Blue (even Team Whig), and yet it has still managed to become the most successful nation in the history of the world. Washington elites want you to believe their alleged brilliance is the only reason America has been as successful as it has, and that they can save you if only you were willing to give them more power over your life, but that’s just not true. Our nation thrives not because of its politicians, but in spite of them.

Ah, there you are—my friend. I’m so glad we agreed to have this conversation, and I’m looking forward to meeting the comrades you’ve brought with you throughout our dialogue.

I know it’s tempting to jump right into it, but before we can have a truly meaningful conversation, we need to define our terms. Far too often, important discussions—no matter how sincere the participants are—end up devolving into screaming matches, or, at best, people just end up talking past each other. And in many cases, our disagreements result from people using the same terms but defining them differently.

We see this all the time when people talk about the “far left” or the “far right.” To many on the left, when they think of the “far right,” they conjure up images of neo-Nazi rallies or fascist dictators. But if you ask someone who identifies as a conservative what they consider “far right,” they are much more likely to think of people who believe in extremely limited government—people like Ayn Rand and other libertarians who think government should be so small that it can’t even build roads, never mind throw millions of people into concentration camps.

How can we have a useful conversation about right-left politics if one side thinks the “far right” is akin to Nazism and the other side thinks “far right” is best epitomized by Atlas Shrugged’s libertarian town of Galt’s Gulch? You can’t.

So, before we get into details about socialism, communism, and capitalism, we need a common understanding of what these words mean. In Chapters 2 and 3, we’ll go into much greater detail about all of these concepts, and we’ll cite heavily from people who actually claim to be socialists and communists. But for now, let’s quickly go over some very basic definitions of our terms.

socialism noun

[so-cial-ism | \ 'sō-shə-(ˌli-zəm \]

“any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”⁵

In a socialist economy, the society as a whole collectively owns and manages property, taking the power out of the hands of individuals and granting it instead to the wider community, often by giving more control over property to government agencies. This goes over very well with humans. Just try taking toys away from one child and “sharing” them with others in the same room. Let me know how that works out.

Marx describes socialism as a pit stop (emphasis on the pit) on the glorious road toward communism. Technically, socialism is a “transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism”—the phase when capitalism must be discredited and destroyed, along with all those who stand in the way of the people’s progress or revolution.

democratic socialism noun

[pred·a·tor·;y | \ pred-uh-tawr-ee \] · [so·;cial·;ism | \ sō-shə-li-zəm \]

features the same system of collective ownership and management of property inherent in every other socialist system, along with all of its problems. The only difference is its adherents also pinky swear that they’ll never support any form of government other than one in which elections are democratically held, as if democracy magically guarantees there won’t be tyranny.

(ASK AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO LIVED IN THE JIM CROW SOUTH OR JAPANESE AMERICANS WHO WERE FORCED TO LIVE IN GOVERNMENT-RUN INTERNMENT CAMPS DURING WORLD WAR II HOW WELL DEMOCRACY WITHOUT PROTECTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS WORKS OUT.)

SOCIALIST CHEAT SHEET:

IF IT’S UNPOPULAR TO SAY YOU’RE A COMMUNIST, SAY YOU’RE A SOCIALIST.

IF IT’S UNPOPULAR TO SAY YOU’RE A SOCIALIST, SAY YOU’RE A DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST.

IF IT’S UNPOPULAR TO SAY YOU’RE A DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST, SAY YOU’RE A DEMOCRAT.

Although many of America’s most prominent “democratic socialists” say their system is entirely different from the socialist horror stories we’ve seen in numerous countries over the past century, the truth is, democratic socialism is nothing more than socialism with a better PR department.

swedish-style socialism noun

[sew·dish | \ swidI∫ \] · [so·;cial·;ism | \ sō-shə-li-zəm \]

is a mythical creation invented by socialists desperately looking for proof that socialism works. When they examined history and couldn’t find any examples of socialism working—not a single one—they fabricated the Scandinavian socialism myth.

communism noun

[com·mun·ism | \ 'kom-yuh-niz-uh m \]

is “a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed.”⁶ In the Marxist sense, communism is the most extreme form of socialism. In a communist utopia, all property, including many kinds of personal property, is collectively owned and managed. According to actual communists, this has never been achieved. In its most idealistic form, communism does not include an all-powerful, centralized government, but rather people sharing, working, and living for the common good.

real-world communism noun

[reel | \ ree-uh l \] · [world | \ wurld \] · [com·mun·ism | \ 'kom-yuh-niz-uh m \]

like many forms of socialism, results in misery, death, despair, and authoritarianism—everything communists say they oppose while fomenting revolution but can’t seem to avoid when they come into power.

capitalism noun

[cap·i·tal·ism | \ 'ka-pə-tə-,liz-əm \]

is “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free mark...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Setting the Stage
• Chapter 2: Capitalism: Baby or Bathwater?
• Chapter 3: Is Socialism Just “Sharing & Caring“?
• Chapter 4: Socialist “Utopias” & Their Bloody History of Failure
• Chapter 5: Swedish-Style Socialism
• Chapter 6: Building a 21st Century Socialist Nightmare
• Chapter 7: Saints, Sinners, & Socialists
• Chapter 8: Eco-Socialism & Climate Change
• Chapter 9: A Better Way
• About the Author
• Endnotes
• Copyright