what's my problem with socialism?

i complain a lot about socialism, but i'm not sure that, in over 100 posts on this blog, i've ever specifically pointed out what my problem is.

it's pretty simple. there are two issues; one philosophical and one practical.

philosophically, socialism requires the rule of some over others. duh. so what? the problem is that no person has the right to rule over another person. we're all people. if any one of us has the right to rule over others, then we all must. if one of us does not have the right to rule over others, then none of us do. there aren't any super-humans and there aren't any sub-humans. we're all human and we all have the same rights, specifically, to our own person and property. socialism, therefore, requires the immoral violent rule of one over another. if one advocates socialism, how can this problem be rectified? it can't.

the second issue is practicality. socialism has a fatal flaw: it can't work. there is an economic idea called "the economic calculation problem", in which the state can't efficiently or effectively determine appropriate allocation of resources. for example: if you make toasters, but you force everyone to buy one, then how can you tell if you're making the right amount of toasters? only individuals, by themselves, in their particular life circumstances, can determine value. some may not eat bread and therefore don't need a toaster. some may eat lots of bread and need two toasters. some may prefer their bread untoasted. so, if everyone has to buy a toaster, how do you know that you haven't made too many? how do you know that the resources that went into the toasters wouldn't have been better served in some other goods or services? you can't. that's the problem. unless you're providing goods and services on a market, where people have the ability to buy or not to buy, you can't tell if what you're doing actually has value. governments suffer this problem in every aspect of production, be it defense, police, justice, or what-have-you.

it's immoral and unpractical and therefore leads to the degradation of human sociaety. there you have it. a short, concise summary of why i oppose socialism.

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