Venezuela was a wonderful little gem in Latin America until Chavez and his cronies turned it upside down--something akin to what Obama is trying to do to America.

When I ask a US socialist what they hate about capitalism, I invariably get back a description of crony capitalism -- in other words, the counterfeit is being mistaken for the real thing. It's time for us to become more vocal when the cronyists brag about the success of their "capitalist" ideas. Otherwise we'll never get anywhere.

You have hit the nail on the head straightline, when you observe that capitalism is the only system that does not rely on violence. If, magically, no one could take anything from anybody then capitalism would still work, though all other economic systems would not. (It would have to be noted that such a capitalism could still contain voluntary socialisms, however.)

There would be a problem in 'contract enforcement'; I think some sort of economic shunning would have to be the 'punishment'. Interesting thought touchstone.

Jan

We are cashing in on 100 years of teaching and preaching. We have let our education systems, go unsupervised, and college debates and demonstrations go unanswered. So now we wonder what in the world causes people to prefer socialism or communism when they clearly cannot produce the benefits of capitalism. The Republicans might win the upcoming election, but not because they have challenged the Democrat's stupidity. It's that the leadership of the Dems based on their ideology is so very bad that it managed to penetrate their promise of largesse for everyone.

When you have learned all you know about Capitalism from Socialists, why would you possibly speak out in favor of it? Just because people are Americans, they are not inclined toward Capitalism.
Besides, there are hard things about it that are obviously and immediately true, like "he who does not work may not eat"; the Socialists hide the bad stuff about their position behind the bushes and people have to discover it - and for every person saying something bad about socialism, there are 3 socialists following him around saying "that's not true! where did you hear that? says who?" and the like. The truth is drowned out.and people who also don't know anything about morality, logic, rhetoric or observation are powerless.
oooh, tax brackets.

Great article Straight. It's hard for me to believe the number of Americans that openly speak out against Capitalism. The results of Collectivism and Capitalism would appear to be obvious.

It's an interesting question: why do people turn to socialism when history shows capitalism delivers the goods. In Age of Turbulence, Alan Greenspan goes coves some of the same ideas in this article, esp that traditions set in preindustrial times exhort us to share.

This article speculates that modern proponents of socialism are not influenced by tradition, piety, etc. I suspect they actually are influenced by traditional values going back to pre-industrial times; they may don't know it though.

Hello straightlinelogic,
Another great article.
It occurs to me that in my life time something dramatic has changed in the public perception. I no longer see the reports in the MSM of the shortages like toilet paper, food, and other essentials that were commonplace reports from places like the old USSR, Cuba and many other Marxist leaning nations. I hope the market will eventually win out and promote viewership of news channels that expose the truth once again. There is some indication that viewership is down on channels that obfuscate.

I believe a solution, or at least a major move in the right direction, would be to take over or create more MSM outlets as well as non-traditional information sources aimed at the young that disseminate the truth of these conditions. We remember the lessons of history, but it would seem that many today are being shielded from this reality. When was the last time and how often have any of us heard about these conditions and the types of ideologies/political philosophies guiding the course of these impoverished nations? If anything we hear some nonsense about how these nations are impoverished because of some policy of the U.S., As if it is our fault ... We must be exploiting their resources or labor markets... keeping them impoverished through international policy.

Somehow, right thinking people who know the difference between Capitalism and Crony Capitalism, must make the case again, clean our own backyard, while pointing to the truth about these Marxist nations and their repeated historical failures.
Regards,
O.A.

The people of Venezuela do not think for themselves nor question anything they are told.

As a child I watched Captain Kangaroo change the Russian fairy tale "The Little Red Hen" from an analogy of what Communism REALLY manifests in human nature to what the progressive left WANTS for it to manifest in human nature.

The former analogy is based in reality, the latter in fantasy...and I knew it at age 5.