Democracy or Socialism: The Fateful Question for America in 2024

ISBN-13: 9783030656454 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 212 str.

Sven R. Larson

Opis

This book discusses socialism and democracy. It approaches socialism not as a label but as an ideology. Based on a careful examination of what socialism is, traced back to Karl Marx, this book explains the tense relationship between socialism and democracy and how it has influenced political thought and practice in both Europe and America. This book carefully avoids conventional wisdom, seeking instead to originate its definition and analysis of socialism in its political theory and practice. Building on the relationship between socialism and democracy, the book explores how this uneasy roommate agreement may affect America’s future.

Spis treści

1. Defining Socialism

Why the definition matters

Communism and intrinsic tyranny

Unavoidable economic demise 

2. Economics of Socialism 1: Prices vs. Labor Value

Marx and socialism in practice

Prices vs. labor-value theory

The status nature of Marxist theory

The iron law of wages

Labor value of central planning

Central planning and human nature

3. Economics of Socialism 2: Planning vs. The Market

Capitalist decline: a false notion

The welfare state: socialism without central planning?

An unsustainable blend

The inevitable conflict 

4. From Strife to Spring

History is perfect hindsight

Russia 1917: from chaos to Lenin

Prague 1968: modest reforms

Passing the point of no return

Solzhenitsyn's challenge

A note on Charta 77

Democratic socialism gets a boost

A penultimate moment in Sweden

An ideological lesson

5. The American Welfare State Today

Ideological metamorphosis 

Welfare-state entrenchment

Welfare-state consensus 

Neoconservative endorsement

Capitalism, nihilism and socialism

6. The American Welfare State Tomorrow

Expansion is inevitable

A note on government size and economic growth

Equality or solidarity

Bipartisanship and welfare-state unity

Monetized socialism

Hyperinflation: lighting the torch

U.S. hyperinflation 

O autorze

Sven R. Larson is a Ph.D. political economist and author. He has worked for free-market think tanks and been an advisor to elected officials and political campaigns. His scholarship and policy research are focused on the dynamics between the welfare state and economic freedom. Among his previous books are Industrial Poverty, which analyzes the welfare state’s role in causing economic stagnation in Europe; The Rise of Big Government: How Egalitarianism Conquered America, an examination of the ideological similarities between the American and Swedish welfare states; and Faith and Freedom: The Moral Case for America, exploring the moral foundations of the American constitutional republic.

Blurb

This book discusses socialism and democracy. It approaches socialism not as a label but as an ideology. Based on a careful examination of what socialism is, traced back to Karl Marx, this book explains the tense relationship between socialism and democracy and how it has influenced political thought and practice in both Europe and America. This book carefully avoids conventional wisdom, seeking instead to originate its definition and analysis of socialism in its political theory and practice. Building on the relationship between socialism and democracy, the book explores how this uneasy roommate agreement may affect America’s future. 

Sven R. Larson is a Ph.D. political economist and author. He has worked for free-market think tanks and been an advisor to elected officials and political campaigns.