Prager U has a new video Socialism Makes people selfish talking about what socialist ideas do to a culture. Their claim is that it creates a culture of entitlement. I can agree with Socialism creates a culture of entitlement, but not to his defense of Capitalism. He makes the same mistake many conservatives have made in the past. Prager tries to defend Capitalism as the better system of altruism; one that supports service to others. This is a weak position because Capitalism promotes rational self interest and helping others is a natural  byproduct of the division of labor society. Socialism will always win in a contest of sacrificing the individual to the group. Instead, I agree with Harry Browne’s stronger observation; That the Price of Liberty is personal responsibility. To highlight that Socialism promotes other people being responsible for you vs. Capitalism promoting Personal Responsibility is much more effective. So let's follow the psychological conclusions of each idea. Socialism - other people are responsible for you- leads to others owe you something - leads to not much value put on those people because after all, they owe you something (entitlement mentality).  Capitalism - leads to taking your own life into your hands- leads to high self esteem and personal responsibility - leads to respecting other people who work hard and are  responsible for  themselves (Individual rights mentality).

The flip side of the entitlement culture are the personally responsible people that feel that they should offer their life of servitude to pay for those that are not responsible for themselves. Many people are brought up to believe that their main purpose in life is to sacrifice their life to something bigger than themselves (ie. society, government, god/gods, etc). So many of those people grow up conflicted because a successful  life requires you to be concerned with your rational self interest and to understand that your life belongs to no one else. However, subconsciously they feel the need to be responsible for the irresponsible by any means necessary; including forcing other people into servitude. This leads to the observation of hard working rational individuals supporting socialism, fascism, communism and other statists governments.

The Golden Scapegoat

Ever get tired of hearing how one group is always perpetrator of all of a person's woes in the world. Usually there is no solid causal evidence shared in regards to that groups sins. The problem is not with (insert your favorite hated group -corporations, businessman, etc) _______, but with the power to grant wishes and punish enemies. In other words, the evil of statism. The entitlement culture granted the government the power to grant wishes and punish their enemies. This automatically created a pressure group mentality (us vs. them, rich vs. poor, etc.) because no one wants to be on the receiving end of the punishment. Instead, each group fights for control of the government to grant the wishes of their special group and to punish the enemies of their group. The problem is not the individual groups (unions, business owners, corporations, rich, poor, etc), but the power of granting wishes and punishing enemies. The government’s sole moral purpose is to protect the individual rights of life, liberty, and property. There would be no reason to fight for control of the government, when it no longer has the power to control your life. This is why the Price of Liberty is Personal Responsibility. When we give the government the power of wishes; we take turns at playing master and slave. Instead we should strive to be personally responsible free individuals.

#thegoldenscapgoat #pressuregroupwarfare

Individuals create and government tries to steal credit

Government does not create things; individual people do. For some politicians to say that without government; there would not be any financial backing for profitable research (ie. government created the iphone) is just wrong. I give you exhibits A,B, and C.   

1. Kickstarter
2. Venture Capitalists
3. Other crowdsourcing companies

The list of financial avenues in the free market goes on and on. Harry Browne liked saying that government breaks your legs, hands you a crutch, and then tells you that you would not be able to walk if not for the government. Now government taking money from one person, backing the research of another person, and is now  telling us that we would not have any research funding if it was not for government. In a free market, the money taken from the taxpayer would have received a return on their investment; whether that be personal satisfaction or monetary gain (stocks, dividends, etc).  #individualscreategovernmentstealscredit

Radical Capitalist Episode 50: Did the Government Create the iPhone? Brexit?