∙II.a.1 – What is Social-democracy: State sovereignty (differences between Socialism and Democracy)

It highlights how Socialism and Democracy are forms of government essentially in conflict with each other:

● Democracy is based on Citizens’ “freedom of initiative” (who are still punished when their actions create damage to other Citizens), in Socialism this freedom is limited (it is thought that the Freedom granted by Democracy can produce dangerous effects).

● Socialism is the regime in which the State prevails over the People (as opposed to Democracy in which the People is Sovereign, ie it is “above all”)

● Socialism (Social Democracy) basically produces poverty.

● Fascism is a form of Socialism: Social Democracy spontaneously tends to transform itself into Fascism, that is, into a more evolved form of authoritarianism (the will to impose the rules of top-down behavior finds resistance from the citizens, and to at some point the Government is forced to make a qualitative leap towards greater authoritarianism).

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Today most young people use some terms that concern important aspects of life, without knowing their real meaning.

This is a problem created in particular by the School, which in recent decades has been reformed in the direction of the Ideology of Social Democracy, and has stopped teaching what the actual history of the various forms of government was in the twentieth century.

An example of this: the new generations in the USA finish school thinking that Communism is the ideal form of Democracy (which means, as emerges from the answers to the polls, that most of the US Citizens prefer Socialism, a form of Totalitarianism that it imposes choices on them, with respect to a Democracy that allows them “freedom of initiative”).

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One of the problems, which distorts any choice of voting by young people (and not only young people), is the lack of knowledge of the meaning of the term Socialism.

ç_socialism

Socialism is not known at all what it is in fact (what the socialist regimes were),
and what are the theories that underlie it.

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Socialism is that form of government in which there is a State composed of a class of “special” people who impose their decisions on the People

Socialism was born as an alternative to the Monarchy, declaring that the difference with the previous regime is that in Socialism the State imposes itself on the People “for their own good”, while in the Monarchy, “the State” looked after only the interests of the King and the Nobles.

The first application of Socialism was in fact that established by the Jacobins in the French Revolution (this is the period known as “the Terror”). Since then, attempts have been made to improve this form of government, at least in some practical determinations, but essentially the doctrine has remained the same: a group of “chosen” people imposes the rules on the people.

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The problem is that today the Ideals of Socialism (such as equality) are announced, but there is no mention of the ways in which these ideals are to be achieved. Basically in the Socialist doctrine (Ideology)

● the End is: at the “ideal” level the End is the achievement of a level of equality of wealth of people through the “communism” of goods – which is achieved through an “expropriation” of property (essentially expropriation of real estate and money) of the richest people (currently this expropriation consists of taxes). And

● the essence of the method of government is: from the point of view of government in Socialism the People are governed by an authoritarian body made up of trusted people from the Socialist (Left) Parties. Initially this body was “the Party” itself, which is still the case in China, where the government is actually the Chinese Communist Party).

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There are therefore profound differences between the regimes of Democracy and Socialism.

According to the terms currently used in the Constitutions of Western Democracies the differences are:

● in Democracy the people are Sovereign, that is, they are “above all”: no one can tell citizens what they must do. In fact, it is the Citizens who meet directly or elect “administrators” to make decisions.

In the definition adopted in the USA, expressed by President Lincoln during the civil war: ‘Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, for all the people, by all the people.’ [Wikipedia “Gettisburg Address”]

In Democracy the People are sovereign (as in the Monarchy the King is Sovereign), that is, the People is above all. That means also:

in Democracy the People commands,
no one can command the People.

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● in Socialism the Sovereign is instead a group of people who some think have special qualities: these people rule over the People, in the sense that they impose the rules of behavior on the Citizens (basically this group of Rulers imposes on the Citizens their own decisions “for their “Good” – the justification for this is, in fact, that the People themselves are unable to make correct decisions for themselves).

One of the criticisms of Socialism (one of the contradictions) is, essentially, that these “special” people choose themselves to rule the People, since according to the Socialist Doctrine the Citizens are not able to choose these people (a significant case: in Italy since a decade the Democratic Party chooses the Government without consulting the People).

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So basically Socialism and Democracy are based on “opposite” theories.

That is, on methods in conflict with each other: while Democracy is based on the “freedom of initiative” of citizens (who are in any case punished when their actions create damage to other citizens), in Socialism citizens are denied this freedom (citizens are imposed strict rules of conduct).

The denial of such freedoms (the forcible imposition of repressive rules) emerged significantly in the case of the Lockdowns imposed on Citizens in 2020.

In this case, the approach of the US General Election has led the Democrats to radicalize their own policies (towards a more explicit Socialism), going so far as to impose a segregation of citizens in their homes, which has brought them into a condition of profound poverty.

To understand the arbitrariness of such impositions linked to Covid-19 (the lack of real scientific support), we remind you that this situation has provided the possibility of comparing the two regimes: the conservative states that have not adopted these impositions, compared to those governed by the Democrats, they have had neither the worst damage in terms of health of citizens, nor the serious economic damage produced by socialist-type taxation.

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In cases such as those of Covid-19, in a real democracy the government informs the citizens and calls for a consultation (for example a referendum) so that they decide what is best to do for them. In this case, the Government can probably take decisions immediately, for practical reasons, but then it is required to consult the People in order to maintain the measures it has taken in an emergency condition).

∙HOW CAN SOCIALISM BE DEFINED?

Summing up:

Socialism (Social Democracy)
is therefore that type of regime
in which the Sovereign
– which in Democracy is the People –
is the State,

whereas in Democracy and the State it is nothing more than an administration system that operates on behalf of the citizens; or whose faculties are subordinated to the Will of the latter.

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Compared to the definitions of Democracy officially adopted by current Western Democracies (but contradicted in practice), Democracy is the form of Government “by the People”, or in which “the People are sovereign”.

In socialism these principles are overturned: in Social Democracy “the State is sovereign” (while in Democracy the People is “above all”, and therefore commands, in Socialism the State commands).

Since the People’s State counts more in Socialism,

Social Democracy can be defined as a form of Statism.

In other words, while in Democracy the State is simply “a service” for citizens (which administers public things on their behalf), in Social Democracy the State holds an effective Power: it can in fact take decisions in conflict with the will of Citizens.

<see my Document “The Liberal approach (real democracy) and the Social-Democratic approach of democracy: the definitions“>

The question of power in democracy

Note that in Democracy the government does not have any power at all, but it governs in how some crew members steer a ship.

The term government derives in fact from the Latin gŭbĕrnum «ship’s rudder». To govern: “Maneuvering a vessel to steer it according to the predetermined route” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

That is, who governs the vessel does not make decisions, but executes the decisions of the vessel owner.

The same is true for Government in Democracy, government institutions must stick to the execution of the will of the People.

About the essence of Socialism

As the polls show, misunderstandings about socialism – what it really is – have led most young people to prefer communism over democracy.

This fact highlights a lack of knowledge of what Socialism actually is (this does not mean that people should not prefer Socialism to Democracy: the problem is that in this case young people think that Socialism is an improved form of Democracy, when the two forms of government are profoundly different, in contrast with each other).

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This happens basically because

when people talk about Socialism they always say the Ideals,
but they almost never say
which is the government structure
that should allow to reach these ideals.

It is a bit like reading the entry Nazism on Wikipedia: a doctrine aimed at improving the life of the German people, severely oppressed by economic impositions by the French.

The substantial differences between Democracy and Socialism

ç_Democracy vs Socialism (Social Democracy)

It is therefore necessary to clarify what Socialism is, and to highlight the profound differences between it and Democracy.

That is, it should be explained how the ideals that Socialism aims to achieve are obtained, such as equality between people, social well-being for the poorest, etc … And how to achieve these noble ideals, Socialism acts like the classics forms of “regime” (that is, in a way comparable to Totalitarianism, to Dictatorship).

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An analysis of the Theories of Socialism (which are those adopted by the Social Democratic Parties), and of what has happened in history, shows us what has recently emerged clearly with “covid emergency”: in Western Democracies – contrary to what it should happen in real Democracy:

1) the State imposes on citizens the rules of conduct, without them being able to discuss the question (the State imposes on them what they can and what they cannot do).

2) to enforce these impositions, the state must resort to repression, since a part of the population tends not to accept the rules imposed on it (think of what happened during the lockdown in 2020 which led many families to starvation).

That is, the State of a Socialist matrix, such as Social Democracy in an “evolved” phase, in order to impose its rules at some point is forced to resort to repressive policies very similar to those typical of the dictatorships of real Socialism (such as those of Communist China).

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Upstream of all it must be taken into consideration that the Concept of the Socialist State is one of the foundations of Marx’s Communism (the one that underlies Communist dictatorships such as the Soviet Union and Mao’s China).

In fact, Communism is nothing other than the “communism of goods” pursued by Social-democracy (this concept is now defined as “re-distribution of wealth”).

Socialism and poverty

Socialism produces important negative “side effects”. One of these is the worsening of the nation’s poverty level (also in this case the consequences of the measures taken for Covid-19 are a significant example).

How can this happen?

The examples of the applications of Socialism in History (from European Social Democracy to Soviet and Chinese Communism) show how these applications have invariably produced poverty (and the derivatives of such conditions, such as social violence, increased mortality, etc …).

 <see my  Article on difference of the social order between Socialism and Democracy>

The problem of poverty produced by Socialism is due to the fact that it seeks to create economic equality among citizens. In this way Socialism produces a downward leveling of social conditions. It is an elementary scientific question: since the aim is to redistribute wealth, all the classes above the “poor class” are impoverished to pass the money on to the latter.

In this way we arrive at what is happening today: the elimination of the so-called middle class, made up of those people in recent decades have improved their standard of living, passing from the condition of poverty to one of greater financial availability. And since today the middle class consists of a large percentage of the population, Social-Democracy impoverishment produces a major increase in poverty in the Society.

In reality there is another important factor that contributes to a general impoverishment of the social-democratic society: the structure of social-democracy has huge costs, which must be repaid by the taxes taken from citizens.

In fact, in Social Democracy the level of taxation is hardly sustainable.

■ In Social Democracy Institutions that are not elected by the people at all govern (they are therefore illegitimate)

ç_ sovereign citizen ç_ illegitimate powers

Note that, beyond the democratic facade, in Social Democracy those who govern are not elected by the people as they should be in real Democracy.

It is in fact necessary to consider that in real Democracy:

1) the only form of power is in the hands of the Citizens: government “by the People” (for the constitutions the Citizens are the sovereigns).

2) in representative Democracy (where there is a Parliament) there are some people who assume a “delegated power” by the People (they can make decisions that affect the life of the Citizens because they have been sent to Parliament directly by them).

Therefore any decision concerning the life of citizens taken by people not directly elected by them is illegitimate.

But in Social Democracy there are many Institutions that hold illegitimate power, as they are made up of people who are not recognized by the Constitutions as a “delegated power” (they were not directly chosen by the people).

These are, for example, the Bureaucrats, “Experts” of the sector and the Justice System.

Today the judges take decisions that modify the choices of the Parliament. And the Supreme Court, paradoxically, when it should defend the Constitution, in fact acts in contrast with the Constitution by modifying decisions taken by legitimate government institutions, and by popular juries (the members of SCOTUS are not elected by the people, but are designated by the political parties )

The events of Covid-19 have brought to light

how “the Experts” could in fact create extreme measures such as the lockdown (in this case they have in fact taken the decisions that have only been ratified by the government institutions).

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This happens because in social democratic thinking it is assumed that some particularly capable people can make better decisions than what is the “will of the People”. And therefore there is a tendency to gradually overcome the “problem” of the sovereignty of citizens (this is one of the main problems of Social Democracy: the tendency to deny the actual value of regular elections).

We recall the case of Italy, which has one of the most “advanced” Social-Democracies, where for more than a decade there have been Premieres not elected by the People (as required by the Law), but they are directly designated by the Democrats, which are that the Communist Party that has changed its name (one of the main architects of this course is G. Napolitano, one of the founders of the Communist Party in the 40s of the twentieth century).

∙■ Fascism is a form of Socialism

One of the other misconceptions about Socialism is that it is often considered to be the antagonist of Fascism, when

in reality Fascism is nothing more
than one of the forms of Socialism.

For those unfamiliar with the history of the 1900s:

1) Mussolini, the creator of Fascism, was proud to be a Socialist until the last day (formerly a leader of the Socialist Party, it founded Fascism, and during his dictatorship he was one of the most authoritative socialist authors, read in Worldwide).

2) Stalin and Mussolini (and Hitler) were allies, and they started WW II together (Stalin’s regime was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).

3) the founders of Social Democracy as it is known today, F.D. Roosevelt and M. Keynes explicitly said that their model was Italian Fascism. <see  my Article>

“Roosevelt was also a secret admirer of Mussolini, writing to his friend John Lawrence,” I don’t mind telling you in confidence, that I am keeping in fairly close touch with that admirable Italian gentleman. “[42] FDR also wrote to US Ambassador to Italy Breckinridge Long about Mussolini, “I am much interested and deeply impressed by what he has accomplished and by his evidenced honest purpose of restoring Italy and seeking to prevent general European trouble.” [43] According to ex-Marxist [44]» [see source]

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To understand how it is possible that a socialist regime such as F.D. Roosevelt (in which the theories of the Socialist M. Keynes are applied) and Fascism appear to be very similar, it is necessary to evaluate the main characteristics of the two forms of government:

● Social Democracy: Socialism applied in Social Democracy aims at a modeling of the Society through top-down imposed measures.

In essence, even in Social Democracy, Government is developed by people not elected by the People (see in the previous chapter how the Covid-19 case highlighted how decisions are made by “the Experts”, and Parliament does nothing else than to ratify these decisions).

The policies of Social Democracy are aimed at developing applications of “Social Engineering” typical of Socialism (it pursues the aim of leveling the level of wealth of the Society, as illustrated above). The strategies that have reduced the populations in which they have been applied to starvation.

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● National Socialism (Fascism and Nazism) is a more “evolved” form of Socialism (as mentioned, Mussolini, the creator of Fascism, was a Socialist who applied the Socialist Dogma to the letter).

It should be noted that Social Democracy spontaneously tends to transform itself into Fascism, that is, into a more advanced form of authoritarianism (the will to impose the rules of top-down behavior finds resistance from the Citizens, and at a certain point the Government of Social-Democracy  is forced to make a qualitative leap towards greater authoritarianism).

It is recalled that the founders of Social Democracy as it is known today, F.D. Roosevelt and M. Keynes explicitly said that their model was Italian Fascism. <see  my Article>.

And that Hitler and Stalin (Nazism and Soviet Communism) were allies in the Second World War.

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● Communism is the most advanced form of Socialism, also called Real Socialism.

The first Social Democratic parties were born in Great Britain and Germany: “these predominantly Marxist parties foresaw the need for a revolution to achieve socialism” Wikipedia “Socialdemocrazia” https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialdemocrazia