Socialism is Bad, Very Bad: Venezuela

Socialism is bad. Very, very bad. If you don’t believe that, then I encourage you to take a vacation to Venezuela sometime. Just be sure to bring your own food because that’s something they’re kind of having a shortage of these days.

The country has been struggling to say the least, especially over the last several years. When dictator, Hugo Chavez, took over in 1999, the government began expanding, gobbling up sectors of private industry. And before you knew it, private oil, telecommunications, energy and the cement industries were all under government control.

And things are only getting worse. The government appears to be in panic mode and just recently seized a General Motors plant in the country. GM has made statements indicating that it is pulling out of the country entirely, forced out by government overreach. GM’s actions will add nearly 2700 people to the 25% unemployment in Venezuela. GM is only the latest in a series of major companies that have been forced out of business and/or out of the country because of the socialist policies that are killing Venezuela.

Current President Nicolas Maduro is showing himself to be just the kind of dictator a socialist country needs in order to self-destruct. Protests recently erupted after his administration barred opposition leader Henrique Capriles from holding political office for the next 15 years. That’s on top of a 2009 policy change that now allows the president to be re-elected in perpetuity.

Right on cue, socialist proponents attempt to say that Venezuela is not truly socialist and therefore cannot be counted against socialism as a form of government. I hate to break it to these individuals, but Venezuela’s government has been taking ownership of the “means of production, distribution, and exchange,” the very definition of socialism.

Socialism fails every time it is tried. This occurs for many reasons. But one of the main reasons is that humans are fallen creatures. Humans are selfish, power-hungry, and self-serving when given the chance. The leaders of a socialist country would have to be angels in order to make it work. However, they aren’t.

James Madison, Father of America’s Constitution, said, “If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

Socialism is bad. Very, very bad. Government should have the absolute least amount of control while still being able to fulfill its rightful duties. Those rightful duties include protecting our God-given rights and….nothing else. With such a limited role, government doesn’t need much power.

The key here is putting government back in its box, restricting it once again to its Constitutionally enumerated powers. But this can only be done if We the People understand what those enumerated powers are. This can only be done if We the People take the time to educate ourselves and those around us, and then stand up for what we know to be true.

It’s work, but it’s worth it. It’s worth it because none of us want to end up like Venezuela.

Jonathan Paine

Follow on Twitter: @painefultruth76

Let us know what you think: painefultruth1776@gmail.com