18/05/2005 11:26:42 am
Socialism - the Greatest Kidnapper of the 20th Century? The big state emerged mainly during the second half of the 20th century, and mostly in Western Europe. It was built in rather big consensus between left and right in poltics. The process wasn′t stopped until the 1980s and the Thatcher revolution, and it has only been rolled back marginally since. A big state is socialism step by step. The bigger the state is, the higher the taxes are, and the more public monopolies you have - there will be less space for individual freedom and private ownership. Instead, mush is decided collectively by a majority. This is socialism, regardless of who introduces it; Hayek had an important point when he dedicated "The road to serfdom" to "socialists in all parties". Thus, we saw Christain Democrat, Liberal and Conservative parties being kidnapped by socialism. But not only them. The trade unions, which were largely market-liberal from the start, were also kidnapped by socialism. And not to mention the media and to a large extent public administration. But now that socialism turned out to be wrong, when we know that a big state and a planned economy only makes ordinary people poorer, there is confusion. It is hard to abandon ideas and policies that have been described as the only way to prosperity. But it has to be done; the sooner the better. It is time for the kidnapped to escape.