The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism (The Politically Incorrect Guides)

The word "Socialism" or "Socialist" has been used quite a lot in recent years, perhaps without much knowledge of what the word actually means. Fortunately, we have Kevin Williamson to help us out. In his brilliant book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism", Williamson provides the reader with a good knowledge of what Socialism is and what it is not, along with how Socialism has been developed in various parts of the world. According to Williamson, Socialism is not, primarily, the redistribution of wealth. Welfare, Social Security, and other government programs, can be part of a Socialist system, but they are not themselves Socialism. Socialism, rather, is the belief that central planning can produce better results than the chaotic, messy marketplace, or any venue in which people act spontaneously. The Socicialist believes that planning is more rational and fairer. Socialism, then, is all about THE PLAN. The problem is that in order for THE PLAN to work, as Hayek demonstrated, the planners have to have real-time information about every economic transaction. THE PLAN cannot succeed without such information, and yet it is not possible for the planners, no matter how intelligent they are, or how sophisticated their computers are, to gain that information. In a market economy, each actor needs to know the information that pertains to his particular business. The planners, whose business is the whole economy, must know everything, and again, that is not possible. To make matters worse, the one way to obtain the information is through the prices generated by supply and demand. By determining prices based on political rather than economic considerations, the planners essentially blind themselves. This assumes that the planners are rational and impartial. In fact, there is an irresistible temptation to reward friends and cronies while punishing enemies. Another problem with THE PLAN is that not everyone will agree on the particulars of any given plan. They will tend to want to do what benefits themselves rather then what the planners want them to do. Thus, coercion is needed to make THE PLAN work and so Socialism always results in tyranny. Williamson takes the reader through the various forms of Socialism from the hard Socialism of North Korea and the former Soviet Union to the softer varieties found in the West European social democracies. He shows that the differences between them are only a matter of degree rather than of kind. He debunks the widely held notion that Sweden is a Socialist paradise and affirms that, yes; Obamacare is Socialism, in that it relies on THE PLAN. Overall, Kevin Williamson has written a valuable and informant guide to Socialism.

This is a good book overall, one in which the author not only spells out why and how socialism will always fail in practice, but also in how it is flawed in theory from the start. The author hits on all the major socialist like movements such as the insane mass murdering leaders of the French Revolution, to the Nazi's, the Soviets, Maoists, and North Koreans. However, he also comments on the "kinder and gentler" democratic socialism, like that seen in Sweden and India. The socialistic elements that are in place in the United States are also covered in detail, and the author effectively shows how ObamaCare will only push the USA in the direction of becoming a mirror image of a modern socialist Europe.Some on the specific things I really enjoyed in this book was the author showing that when socialism raises its ugly head it comes in the form of National Socialism, much like the Nazi's. Almost all of the socialist movements throughout history are completely or partially reliant on nationalist sentiments and not internationalism, most notably the United States being an exception to this fact. With that said the author does a fairly good job of showing that the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi's) are indeed socialists. Just between their leftist domestic and economic policies, as well as the secular and progressive beliefs that many Nazi leaders, including Hitler, expressed it is ridiculous to classify these guys as conservatives. I mean the old argument that they were racists and fighting communists makes them conservatives is dated and simply untrue. I don't believe there is some rule saying leftists can't be racist or can't fight between one another. To this fact, the author wisely points out the anti-Semitic attitudes demonstrated by those on the left, as well as cover the disagreements that can occur between two socialistic groups. I still hold out hope that much like the debunking of the "Darks Ages" and the myths surrounding the religion vs. science debate, that the Nazi's will be counted among the other mass murdering leftist movements of the 20th century.In the end this book clearly shows that the only things that socialism can do well is produce mass murders, create overwhelming poverty and economic discontent, crush personal freedoms through regulation from gigantic totalitarian governments, and put a halt to human productivity and progress.The only major criticism of the book I have is that I wish there was a little more history, since there are plenty of good examples of the failures of socialism, and a little less theory.

Obviously this is a series written from a Libertarian perspective. It really is a good read on what an evil Socialism is, how it always ends up with state oppression of the people and what complete lies Socialists get into to try to justify their actions and mistakes- often reversing previous positions and trying to justify the completely unjustifiable (slavery, death camps, etc, etc).

Magnificent description of the perils of central planning. Without price discovery, how can there be an efficient and prosperous economy?

An interesting read on an alternative look at the idealism that has dogged practical socialism for decades. The intelligent and open minded among us will early in chapter one soon appreciate this is a conservative-slanted critique from the right of the political spectrum. But take away some of the more sweeping premises and ignore the author's step onto the occasional personal soapbox, and what remains is a thought-provoking perspective on socialism and the often violent, devisive and damaging political creeds that both grew up to follow and oppose it, and how that battle has affected all our lives.Interesting too how any criticism of socialism's so dearly held ideals have inevitably brought out the internet warriors of the left with their carefully prepared one-star reviews !!!If only for the negative reviews alone, a recommendation in itself to read the book.

Excelente análise do socialismo como sistema econômico fadado ao fracasso. Trata dos diferentes tipos de socialismo e do que todos têm em comum. Já existe tradução para o Português.