Why Socialism Always Fails: Guest Column

Current Events,

After winning the New York City mayoral race on November 4, Zohran Mamdani declared, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” The comment was exactly the opposite of what President Reagan once said that, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” It did, however, sound very much like what another politician said, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” That was Benito Mussolini. 

While it would have once been problematic for an American politician to essentially sub-quote a Fascist dictator, many younger Americans are ready to consider failed ideas of the past. For example, according to a recent YouGov and Economist poll, nearly half of Americans aged 18 to 29 have a favorable view of socialism. That demographic overwhelmingly turned out for Mamdani. 

A key factor is that the younger generation simply does not know better. This is a failure of their education. They’ve heard about the evils of capitalism, but not about the many killed attempting to escape socialist regimes or why the escapes only went one direction. They’ve been taught to fear the impending catastrophes of climate change but not about the mass starvations resulting from the state controlling industry and agriculture. They’ve learned socialism is about sharing, but not that the sharing is often forced at gunpoint. They’ve learned that when socialism fails, it was done “wrong,” and that true socialism has never been tried. 

The truth about socialism is that it is inherently immoral. As Ben Shapiro put it a few years ago,  

Socialism is bad, because socialism is tyranny. Not it’s an aspect of tyranny. Socialism itself is tyranny. … The notion of socialism is that you don’t own your own freedom. 

The reason oppression results every time socialism is tried is because it’s built into the system. Oppression is not a bug of socialism. It’s a feature. 

Socialism is built on conceit. It is assumed that a society’s problems are a matter of poor management, and once the right people are in charge, utopia will be in reach. What Hannah Arendt said about totalitarianism fits its embryonic stage of socialism: 

Their moral cynicism, their belief that everything is permitted, rests on the solid conviction that everything is possible. … Yet they too are deceived, deceived by their impudent conceited idea that everything can be done and their contemptuous conviction that everything that exists is merely a temporary obstacle that superior organization will certainly destroy. 

Socialism requires that any element of society that does not submit to the state be stripped away or, “better” yet, made another arm of the state. The mediating institutions that Alexis de Tocqueville rightly observed as drivers of American liberty and prosperity—such as churches, schools, volunteer organizations, and families—must devolve under socialism into departments of government power. The state cannot fail. 

But it does, and not just because of inefficiency. Socialism ultimately fails because it is built on flawed anthropology. Socialists claim to be for “the People,” but it’s always for Humanity and never for humans. According to a socialist vision, the individual receives dignity from society, not the other way around. The individual with his or her unique insight, perspective, and preference becomes an existential threat to the grand socialist project. 

Within a Christian worldview, dignity was given to individuals by God, who made them in His image. They bring dignity to the families, communities, and societies around them. They are not cogs in a government-sponsored wheel, nor are they problems for the state to solve. They are, to borrow from J.R.R. Tolkien, sub-creators who, given the freedom and chance to do so, will outperform any mass system that seeks to control them.

Copyright 2025 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

READ MORE

A Little Courage Goes A Long Way: Guest Column

Current Events,

Often, even the smallest acts of courage can change the world. Kamila Bendova and her late husband Václav, both Christians and mathematicians, raised their family in Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia while engaged in the anti-totalitarian efforts of the Charter 77 resistance group. Kamila shared their story of courage during the Colson Center National Conference in May. 

The Bendova’s courage began with a small act of resistance. In an old video clip from the BBC, which Kamila showed during the conference, she and her husband are debating whether to acquiesce to the government’s demand that citizens display little flags celebrating the communist takeover:  

You see, they wanted us to show the world that the Czech Republic was a democracy on the outside. But on the inside, it didn’t work like that. Yes, we had elections, but there was only one party you could vote for. 

Powerfully, the video concluded with the two agreeing, simply and decisively, but also courageously, “No little flags. No little flags.” 

Eventually, their resistance would cost them greatly. In 1979, Václav was arrested for his involvement with Charter 77 and imprisoned for four years. Despite this hardship, Kamila continued to open her home to dissidents, many of whom would stop by to seek advice and encouragement before being investigated by the secret police. She relayed secret communications and hid resistance documents in her apartment. All the while, she and her family prayed, studied, and stayed together. The Bendova’s taught their children to love truth and reject lies, especially by reading to them every night. The story that most shaped the moral imagination of the children was Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which was illegal at the time.  

When asked “Why Tolkien?” Kamila responded: 

Because we knew Mordor was real. We felt that their story … was our story too. Tolkien’s dragons are more realistic than a lot of things we have in this world. 

Like the hobbits and their friends, Kamila’s family also faced an oppressive regime. And like Tolkien’s heroes, the Bendova’s faithfulness and small acts of courage were not in vain.  

Author Rod Dreher has told the Bendova story in two of his books. At the conference, he noted that courage is costly but comes with great gain: 

What has [a person] gained by being willing to make this stand? For one thing, he’s gained his self-respect. He knows that he won’t live by lies even if he has to pay a price for it. Beyond that, though, he has made a statement to the wider community that it is possible not to live by lies. It is possible to defy this unjust authority if you are willing to suffer. 

Over time, enough people may be inspired by seeing the small but meaningful acts of courage that they will bring down the entire system, which is built on lies. That’s why it’s important to take the flag down or to take the sign down in your shop, or not to sign a petition that you don’t believe in. 

It may be that Kamila’s example of courage, even in the smallest aspects of raising children and exposing lies, can inspire Christians today who face what Dreher calls “soft totalitarianism.” America may not have secret police or gulags, but we do have woke universities and social media influencers, and powerful DEI departments and state civil rights commissions. They threaten to cancel and to penalize and to fire. We’ve seen how small acts of courage from bakers and professors and pundits and X accounts can push back on the darkness we face.  

Likely, the new administration will bring a reprieve from the most aggressive corners of the left. Even so, this was made possible by small acts of courage in various corners of our culture and, in the days ahead, the courage in our houses will be more important than what comes from the White House. Kamila and the Bendova family are reminders that little acts of courage go a long way.

Copyright 2024 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

READ MORE