CONSTITUTIONAL CONVERSATIONS
Is Socialism Incompatible With the Constitution?
by
M.E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
Well, in a word, “yes” Socialism as an economic system, or democratic Socialism as it is called by some, is incompatible with the United States Constitution. If WE THE PEOPLE decide that we want to change our economic system to Socialism we would also be giving up the Constitution.
Socialism is an economic system with social ramifications although it is “sold” as a social system using a centralized financial redistribution system for the purported purpose of creating a more equitable society. It is a system that Karl Marx saw as a prelude to Communism and Communism as a prelude to a stateless society. Both Socialism and Communism are economic systems managed by large governments, not by the private sector, and the decisions around what is equitable are made by functionaries within those governments. Financial redistribution is handled by confiscatory taxation of both income and accumulated wealth and that income and wealth go first to the functionaries of government and then to society at large who become dependent on government functionaries for their subsistence. Dependency becomes habitual.
What does our Constitution say about this?
Our Constitution does not say anything about this because the Founders accepted a private economic system as the best way to create a society of economic opportunity, not economic rights, and anticipated that the national and state governments were to regulate and monitor as minimally as possible within the framework of the general welfare of the people. Governments were to be small and lean and not overwhelm the individual and the individual’s creativity in acquiring private property and building wealth. At first the federal government got the money it needed to run national affairs by assessing each state a tax based upon its population. It also sold land acquired by the United States through various treaties, purchases, and war (and sometimes by just plain “taking”). The national government would send out teams to research what it had acquired (think of the Lewis and Clark expedition) and then teams that would survey the land and sell pieces to individuals and businesses. This lasted until the frontier closed around 1890.
The rights created by our Constitution are civil and political rights. Human rights are not created by our Constitution they are created by God as birth-rights of the living. These rights are stated in our Declaration of Independence as the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue our own happiness. Our political rights go to our civic duties as the Sovereign of our nation and civil rights go to rights we have AGAINST government intrusion such as the right to speak about public policy and the right of privacy in our person and effects and our rights to a presumption of innocence and a right to face our accuser and a right to a trial, if charged, by our peers. Other such rights are in the Bill of Rights or the first ten Amendments to the United States Constitution. These are called negative rights not because there is anything negative about them but because they are in opposition to government power. Socialism transfers this power to large government entities and these rights are lost to the individual. Hence, the forced labor camps of socialistic and communist countries; the death squads against protest and free political speech; the arrests in the middle of the night and the threats against family members among other things. There is no such thing in our national Constitution for what we called positive rights or things the government owes the individual. We are not owed health care; we are not owed a house; we are not owed an income, we are not owed a college education; we are not owed anything material. So, positive rights are negative to our system and negative rights are positive to our system. It is a bit confusing. Miss Constitution, therefore, would promote civics education from first grade on as essential in understanding the Republic.
So how do we create within our Constitutional system a more equitable society?
Think of our system as two large self-contained cardboard boxes. Draw a line between them to show ongoing intercourse in both directions. The talent required for one is different from that required for the other. Box #2 is our economic system that consists of innovators and inventors and entrepreneurs that take risks to create products and services that have value and these same persons often pass growing businesses down to heirs for further development. If the business becomes publicly traded anyone can own shares in the business. Wealth is created and profit from the business is taxed to provide for national interests and a safety net for appropriate individuals. New businesses spring from the ones formed. It is dynamic and it is open to all. Wealth is the reward for this energy though service and charity are cultural partners with it.
Box #1 is our governmental system both state and national. These persons are servants to WE THE PEOPLE and hopefully come to public service from successful private careers and share this expertise with the nation. They are to help the private sector create value within the rules of fair play. They are to assist persons away from dependency not toward it. They are to provide a primary public education system that explains economics within our Constitutional framework so that all people know how to enter the system successfully. They are to help maintain national security and a stable social order. This is how the Founders envisioned creating as equitable a society as possible within what we know about human nature. Socialism creates nothing. It is purely confiscatory. It is the dead hand and cold wet blanket on all aspirations and dreams in the human heart. How it is even being considered as a replacement for our Constitutional Republic is beyond the understanding of Miss Constitution. Innovators and risk-takers and inventors cannot work in an environment of disrespect and envy and public stealing. They often just stop and when the money runs out so does the Socialist scheme that created the nightmare in the first place.
Copyright©2019 M.E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
