Socialism is known mainly as an economic phenomenon, one that seeks to prevent the accumulation of wealth in favor of a needs-based economy.  In its extreme, it not just an economic system, but one that seeks to control every aspect of a person’s existence. Society and life in general to the socialist is a zero-sum game—for every winner there must be a loser.  Theirs is a mistaken notion and therefore they present a mistaken solution:  Eliminate losers by eliminating winners; everyone gets a trophy because everyone needs to feel like a winner, even if they aren’t.  Awards and honors are given out without any attempt to tying these to actual accomplishments.  Feeling good has become more important to the societal socialists than actually being good.

Think of the classic 20^th century American immigrant story; a young couple comes here from a foreign land not knowing the language with only the clothes on their backs.  The husband gets a job doing whatever he can to earn money.  The wife raises the kids and runs the household. The couple scrimps, saves and sacrifices so that their kids can get an education.  They live only the lifestyle they can afford through honest, often hard work.  They followed the rules and over time, earned the right to become citizens.

Now fast forward to today, or the near future that the Socialists have in mind for us.  You don’t have to save—the rich will provide the funds to send your kids as well as their own to college.  And healthcare?  Why, ask those on the Left, should there be any correlation between who receives it, their needs, and who pays for it? It’s not even good socialism, as it’s not given according to the person’s need, but the insurance company’s.  The Left recognizes the need to compensate the providers for the inherent inequities in their scheme, but somehow, no one else.  As for citizenship…  It is to become a gift to be bestowed upon those assumed likely to show fealty to the socialist cause, rather than a precious status to be coveted and earned.

Slowly but surely we are being taught the fallacy that what you have in life need not have any relationship to what you are prepared to do to obtain it.  We are slowly but surely being homogenized, we are being sold that sameness is a virtue, and any attempt to improve your lot beyond that of your neighbor is a vice.  Even if you work harder or smarter, or are just luckier than those around you, having more to show for it than them is distasteful and thus should be avoided. If you are better-off than someone, then someone somewhere must have less in the zero-sum, equality of outcome world view of the Left.  They know that this mentality of societal socialism makes the economic kind more acceptable.

Societal and economic socialists both believe that by making it harder for those with an advantage in skill, strategy, resources, etc. to win they are “leveling the playing field.” Individuals with the hearts and minds of winners tend to figure out new ways and new strategies for overcoming the obstacles placed in their way.   Eventually they though innovation and sheer determination find a way to succeed in the new landscape.  The socialist then has to change the rules, but the innovators and the clever find ways to work around the rules, or better yet, make the rules their friend. At that point in order to preserve their “no one loses if no one wins” world, they must destroy the winners.  What cannot be taken by other means is then taken by force.  Such is always the way ultimately with socialism.

The same socialist that denies the individual the right to fail, that bestows the illusion of success where not earned, also seeks to give out money that has not been earned.  They seek to give education, healthcare, even citizenship in some cases, to those who have done little or nothing to obtain these things for themselves. All they ask for in return from those beholden to them is their vote.