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[Kay C. James] We must educate future generations on myths and realities of socialism
By Korea Herald/ Published : Sept 7, 2020
미국 헤리티지 재단의 President인 Kay C. James 여사가 Korea Herald 2020년8월7일자에 기고한 글입니다. 미국 어린 세대가 대책 없이 사회주의에 끌려가는 현실을 걱정하며 어른 세대가 반성하고 교육하자는 주장입니다. 글은 대부분 사회주의의 6가지 거짓신화를 비판하고, 그것을 교육하자는 것입니다. (부족하지만 내용을 이해하시는데 도움이 되길 바라면서 번역했습니다.)
[요약]
●거짓 신화 1: “사회주의는 제대로 실행된 적이 없기 때문에 실패한 적도 없다.”
→(비판) 사회주의는 한 세기 넘는 동안 모든 곳에서 실패했다.(소련, 이스라엘, 인도, 영국, 베네수엘라 등)
●거짓 신화 2: “덴마크는 (또는 어느 스칸디나비아 국가라도) 사회주의가 제대로 작용하는 대표적인 예이다.”
→(비판) 덴마크와, 스웨덴, 핀란드, 노르웨이는 모두 광범위한 복지 시스템에 자금을 조달하기 위해 규제가 매우 적은 자유시장 자본주의에 의존한다.
●거짓 신화 3: “사회주의는 자비롭고 배려심이 많다.”
→(비판) 사회주의자들은 개인보다는 집단에만 관심이 있다. 소련과 중공에서 국민을 감시, 억압, 통제한 사례가 무수하다.
●거짓 신화 4: “사회주의는 국민대중의 손에 권력을 부여한다.”
→(비판) 사회주의는 군부 지도자나 정당의 독재에 의존한다.
●거짓 신화 5: “사회주의 창시자인 칼 마르크스는 19세기의 위대한 사상가 중 한 사람이었다.”
→(비판) 마르크스가 한 말은 거의 모두 틀렸다.
●거짓 신화 6: “인간의 본성은 가변적이며 정부 명령에 의해 쉽게 바뀐다.”
→(비판) 사회주의는 국민을 강압하고 권력을 유지하기 위해 국가의 지속적인 감시와 거대한 수용소를 운영한다.
■ 결론
우리는 각자 자신의 방식으로 자녀와 손자들에게 사회주의의 악과 실패에 대해 계몽해야 됩니다. 우리는 아이들이 교수, 미디어, 대중문화로부터 배우는 거짓에 맞서기 위해 거기에 (그 싸움터에) 있어야합니다. 그렇지 않으면 우리는 이 독성이 있는 이데올로기에 다음 세대를 반드시 잃게 될 것입니다.
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[Kay C. James] We must educate future generations on myths and realities of socialism
By Korea Herald
Published : Sep 7, 2020 - 05:31
Updated : Sep 7, 2020 - 05:31
A frightening 70 percent of millennials say they would back a socialist candidate for office. And today, we are seeing many socialist ideas gaining traction, such as “free” college tuition for all, government-run health care and a guaranteed income even for able-bodied people who don’t work.
While we can blame some of the attraction to socialism on its false promises of fixing every social ill, the nearly inescapable indoctrination present in our schools and universities, and the members of the media who carry its water, some of the blame lies with us, the older generation.
Too often, we have failed to educate newer generations about the myths and realities of socialism, instead leaving it up to others who have a different agenda. In partial reparation, then, here are six of the more persistent myths debunked.
Myth No. 1: Socialism has never failed because it has never really been tried. In truth, socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried for over a century, from the former Soviet Union to the democratic socialism of Israel, India and Great Britain after World War II to present-day Venezuela. Its economic system doesn’t work; it doesn’t respect human rights; and because it works against human nature, government must constantly suppress the people to keep them compliant.
Socialism’s failures abound across the globe. Venezuela, for example, once had one of the world’s largest oil reserves. Today, 90 percent of its people live in poverty, and they need a wheelbarrow of Venezuelan bolivars to buy a loaf of bread.
Even socialism’s “best” experiments didn’t work. “The world’s most successful experiment in socialism,” a prominent economist wrote about Israel, has “resolutely embraced capitalism.”
Myth No. 2: Denmark (or your favorite Scandinavian country) is a prime example that socialism works. The reality is, Denmark has a free-market economy that produces the goods and services that the government then heavily taxes to finance an extensive welfare state.
Despite American socialists’ claims, Denmark’s prime minister once told a shocked Washington, D.C., audience: “I would like to make one thing clear … Denmark is a market economy.” The nation actually has a great deal of economic freedom with few business regulations and no minimum wage (along with the other Scandinavian countries). Like Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway all rely on free-market capitalism to finance their expansive welfare systems.
Myth No. 3: Socialism is compassionate and caring. In truth, socialists only care about the collective, not the individual person. To justify his Orwellian actions, Lenin used the cynical cliche, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” Well, they weren’t eggs but humans, and 100 million of them have been victims of Marxist-Leninist socialism, according to Harvard’s “The Black Book of Communism.”
In Maoist China, children as young as 12 were subject to capital punishment, women were forced to work in coal mines and workers were harassed during their lunchtime with threats of prison if they returned to work late. In the Soviet Union, people faced perpetual surveillance, leading one dissident to say, “We lived in a world swarming with invisible eyes and ears.”
Myth No. 4: Socialism places power in the hands of the people. Actually, true socialism depends upon the dictatorship of a military leader or a political party.
After 60 years of the “Revolucion,” the Cuban people are still waiting for the democratic election that Fidel Castro promised them. Socialist leaders promised to bring down dictators only to replace them with their own Marxist dictatorships in places like China, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos.
Myth No. 5: Karl Marx, socialism’s founder, was one of the great thinkers of the 19th century. Marx was wrong about nearly everything. Nearly 200 years after “The Communist Manifesto,” the nation state has not withered away. Capitalism, not socialism, rules the global economy. Workers have not turned into revolutionaries but entrepreneurs. And private property -- rather than being rejected -- is a cornerstone of every prosperous country.
Myth No. 6: Human nature is malleable and easily changed by government edicts. For 70 years, the Soviet Union tried to suppress people’s innermost desires for freedom and for improving their lot in life. In practice, socialism depends on constant policing by the state and huge prison camps like the Soviet gulag and the Chinese laogai to coerce people and maintain power.
The inalienable rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence and protected in the US Constitution reject the Marxist idea that people can be molded like clay by a central government.
These are just some of the many myths and realities of socialism, an ideology that has failed everywhere it’s been tried. We must each in our own way work to enlighten our children and grandchildren about its evils and its failures. We must be there to counter the falsehoods they are learning from professors, the media and pop culture, or we will surely lose another generation to this poisonous ideology.
Kay C. James
Kay C. James is president of The Heritage Foundation. -- Ed.
(Tribune Content Agency)
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