Socialism's Promise vs. History and Reality

Mike's America socialist mascot makes the scene at San Francisco "peace" rally. So, who thought my description of the left as a bunch of tie-dyed hippie freak tree worshipping neo-socialists was over the top?

Cao, of Cao's Blog reminds me that the socialists at the "peace" rally in Washington this past week know a thing or two about mass murder:

It's one sad fact of history that is too often overlooked as the moral equivalence crowd tries to argue that the unfortunate and unintended deaths which occurred during the US liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan are somehow the same as the decades of mass killings and evil perpetuated against those and other societies.

I'm also reminded of this poster from Protest Warrior (see link for more):

The purges and forced collectivization under both Stalin and Mao killed at least that many or more. Add the deaths from World War II and the one million Iraqis that Saddam killed and you get a clear picture of mass murder that was brought to the world by evil socialist/communist/fascist regimes.

But as Josef Stalin said: "One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic." A modern interpretation by the left would be "So What... Bush is just as bad!"

Let's Dig Deeper into Socialism's Promise and Reality

Willisms produced a series of charts based on a CATO study of economic freedom. In chart after chart, the countries with the greatest economic freedom (the opposite of socialism) have the best standard of living, the lowest infant mortality rate, are the most politically stable, self sufficient and peaceful.

And while many nations in Europe where a socialist model is still in effect suffer from high unemployment and economic malaise (think France and Germany) those states which are moving away from state control are experiencing economic booms with low unemployment (Ireland and Iceland being two examples.)

A while back, Willisms also had another great chart, which I borrowed for a post in May, entitled "Socialism a Good Idea? You Be the Judge":

Even the poorest citizens of the evil Capitalist/Imperialist warmongering United States have more spacious living conditions than most of Europe's socialist and recovering socialist regimes.
So the next time some lefty begins singing the praises of socialism and the evils of capitalism, you might just take them on a history lesson first, then follow it up with some economic reality. Not that it will make much difference. Once the left swallows the Michael Moore kool-aid they have to deny reality so as to avoid any responsibility for the evil perpetrated by the failures of socialism.

And for those who claim "I'm not a socialist, I'm a liberal." Well, the consequences of your proposed policies would be the same as the socialist model of utopia. And you can call yourself "progressive" or "mainstream" all you want. It won't alter reality.