The Bastiat Error

Our esteemed colleague and inestimable commentator Dr. Bastiat recently opined eloquently about what seemed to him to be surprising distinctions on the left, such that claims or appearances of socialist ideology are in conflict with actual behavior.

Conservatives are defined by a fairly consistent shared ideological disposition regarding the relationship between government and the governed. We try to see the left in terms of a coherent ideology. There isn't one. The error is to miss the fact that the left is simply a collection of cultivated resentments against existing realities, for which it is politically useful to offer glorious but entirely fictitious alternatives, always subject to change. Technically, socialism has never failed because the habits of resentment that justified some rendition of the typically bogus solutions done in its name are never assuaged. "Socialism" is the amoeboid consequence of resentment. Its only consistent feature is the creation of a central power capable of destroying hateful reality, including human nature itself.

Here are examples of what "socialism" really means:

1) Adam did better in school than Bobby and went on to get a PhD in Diversity Studies and then got tenure at a third-tier college. He has tried to be politically active but has never had any meaningful connections. Bobby was not dumb, just not interested in academics. He apprenticed as a plumber after high school, later started his own service company, and then founded a plumbing supply wholesaler that now serves the entire tri-state area. The Governor asked Bobby to serve on an advisory panel on business and employment growth.

Socialism is about Bobby NEVER having more wealth and status than Adam.

2) Bethany was raised by a single mom. Her marriage to Doug lasted two years because even though he had a good income as a broker, he never stopped being a selfish frat boy. Both Doug and her estranged Dad liked to talk about how tough it was to make it in the “real world.” When she hears Republican politicians talk about how wonderful markets and competition are, all she hears are the untrustworthy men in her life. She wants security, guarantees, no harsh competition, and an authority of some kind to rein in all rogue male behavior.

Socialism is about listening to Bethany and promising to mandate a world consistent with her sensibilities, or at least craft rhetoric consistent with those sensibilities.

3) Julian was fired from his after-school job for telling off the manager. He attended college classes but never graduated. There he learned that the system was rigged by the powerful and that America was really a conspiracy by the powerful against the poor and minorities. To boot, it is also destroying the planet. At age 29, his work history and educational background were closing off more and more opportunities as time passed. He got some part-time work and some funding as a “community organizer” with an activist group. He realized he was never going to get rich, so why not act to pull down those who are rich because they sure as hell did not earn or deserve it? He is active in Antifa.

Socialism provides the mirage of a positive, just goal accruing from Julian's purely destructive inclinations.

4) Susan is a vegan. She has crystals, dream-catchers, and icons of various Eastern religions in her room. She has tried yoga, tantric sex (with an incompetent partner), various meditation and natural healing strategies, and uses a wide variety of herbal and mushroom supplements. For Susan, the consumer economy is the rape of the spiritual health of our planet and fossil fuels are the ultimate injury—violently dragged out of the ground to kill on the surface.

Socialism for Susan is about curtailing all industrial activity and making the health of the ecosystem our main, if not our only, priority.

5) Steve is a Washington DC attorney. He has built a firm that has both the lobbying skills to direct federal spending to his clients and then handle the complex nuts and bolts of federal contracting. The more Washington gets involved in daily life, the more it spends to solve problems it may have actually created, the more money Steve makes.

Socialism for Steve is cha-ching, baby!

This list is by no means exhaustive. If you are frustrated by certain business practices or costly behaviors that are amenable to a legislative or common law solution you may be a conservative. However, if you think that the entire industry in question should be subjected to nuisance lawsuits, eliminated by fiat, subject to collective authority or nationalized you are a "socialist." If you regard normal sexuality as oppressive, you are a "socialist." The common factor is a resentment or disordered desire to replace reality by means of unchecked political power rather than use the system to improve or achieve better trade-offs.