Socialism And Dignity
Some words just SOUND good. In fact some words sound SO good that you can get yourself elected just be repeating them. Remember “Hope and Change”? This pair of words was so uplifting and inspiring that Barack Obama gained the Oval Office just by saying them. After all, who doesn’t long for hope? And who doesn’t want the “change” that will make one’s hopes a reality?
Make America Great Again is another example. Those four words, I believe, did more than anything else to win Donald Trump the Presidency. We all want America to be great, don’t we? How can you argue against that?
Well, Ms. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC, for short) and her handlers are trying to do something similar. This time the catch phrase is, surprisingly, “socialism”. Apparently we are now far enough removed from the utter failure of the major experiments in socialism that plagued humanity throughout much of the 20th century (The Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Eastern Europe, Cambodia and others). Consequently, today’s youth are not as wary of the term as they should be. An attempt is being made to “rehabilitate”, if you will, the word socialism and make it palatable, once again, to the masses.
To that end, that paragon of gaffs, inaccuracies and misstatements, Ms. AOC, is at it again. When describing her vision of socialism, the never bashful Alexandria exclaimed, with breathtaking sincerity, that: “What socialism means is to guarantee a basic level of dignity.”… SOUNDS great, doesn’t it?… Who’s NOT in favor of “dignity”, after all?… But is “dignity” what socialism really delivers?
Forget, for a moment, socialism’s abysmal failure in achieving prosperity in ALL of the countries that have adopted it. Forget, also, that in many instances not only was there poverty, there was abject STARVATION: FAMINE in the USSR, 1932; FAMINE in China, 1959; FAMINE in Cambodia, 1975, FAMINE in Venezuela, 2018. Aside from these shocking practical failures, there is also a psychological dimension to socialism that is also pernicious.
Dignity, dear readers, is NOT something you’re born with. It’s something you EARN. Although all caring societies should strive to treat their people with COMPASSION, dignity itself can not be bestowed. It comes, instead, from your behavior. One is dignified if one acts in a dignified manner. There is much in the realm of human behavior, unfortunately, that’s just not dignified. I don’t think there is ANYONE, for example, that would claim that multimillionaire and sexual deviant Harvey Weinstein is a dignified man. Exposing and pleasuring himself in front of young and hopeful starlets that did not solicit, nor consent to such a display, would abrogate any claim that the Hollywood mogul might have had on dignity. The reader can, I trust, come up with MANY more contemporary examples.
So, ladies and gentlemen, dignity is something we strive for, and, with our actions, hopefully, achieve. Closely aligned with dignity is, of course, self esteem, the subjective feeling that we experience when we behave with dignity.
Now, there are many ways in which dignity and self esteem can be earned. Defending one’s country is a true path. Altruism and charity are other ways. Perhaps the most common way is through hard work and the support of one’s self and one’s family. And it is in this respect that socialism falls most grievously short. Can one truly feel dignified when going to the mail box to receive an unearned check from Uncle Sam? Does anyone feel PROUD to take a handout?
Political writer Jonah Goldberg, in his invaluable book, “The Suicide Of The West” (Published by Crown Forum, New York, 2018) states it clearly: “The government can improve your net worth with a check, but it cannot improve your SELF WORTH.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s imagined socialist “paradise” will not, indeed can not, dispense self esteem. Rather, it will promulgate a culture of dependency and a lost sense of self worth. How much better would it be if a thriving society were to provide the opportunity and training for its citizens to work and EARN a sense of self esteem and a sense of their own dignity, rather than to cultivate a legion of dependent and self loathing supplicants? Socialism means dignity, Alexandria?… I think not.