Seceding from Socialism (Or, How to Really Make America Great Again)

Thomas DiLorenzo

In his great classic, Socialism, Ludwig von Mises observed that socialists always employed the dual strategy of 1) nationalizing as much industry and property as possible; and 2) “destructionism,” defined as “destroying the social order whichis based on private ownership.”   Destructionism can be achieved through the welfare state, progressive taxation, onerous taxation, and regulation and regimentation of private industry. It is a form of economic sabotage.

There is also a third necessity in order for socialists to achieve their goal of a government “planned” society: the centralization of power and the elimination of all possible exits. As Mises wrote in another of his classics, Omnipotent Government, “[T]he adversaries of the trend toward more government control describe their opposition as a fight against . . . centralization. It is conceived as a contest of states’ rights versus the central power.” This, of course, is what the “Brexit” vote in Great Britain was all about.

The proponents of totalitarian government control, whether they call themselves socialists or something else, have always attacked decentralization, states’ rights, federalism, and all other means of the devolution of power in society. Adolf Hitler bemoaned “the struggle between federalism and states rights” in Mein Kampf and promised that the “National Socialists [i.e. , Nazis] would totally eliminate states’ rights altogether” (Mein Kampf, 1998 Houghton Mifflin edition, p. 565). .....Read More.....