I feel like there should be an article that lists the most common arguments against socialism and attempt to debunk each of them. If there already is one, please let me know. If not, we can use this thread to list them off and provide explanation of why they are not good arguments against socialism.
Off the top of my head, there are four arguments that come to mind:
One, that socialism doesn’t breed innovation like capitalism, as if putting people under the pressure to survive is the most conducive to innovation, as opposed to a economic arrangement that provides people with time to come up with things.
Second, that socialism has been tried before and failed. My only response to this is that certain approaches to socialism have been tried and that socialists of other approaches should not be seen as sharing that failure. Also, those attempts at socialism do not meet the definition of socialism to most other socialists.
A third argument I see asks why people who put up “investments” to start a business, to purchase equipment and tools to make things, should have to give that up to workers. It is usually argued as if the person making the “investment” has personally put in hard work to make a successful business, when we know that only labor is the source of all wealth, including the equipment and tools of production. This argument also presupposes that socialism shares a capitalist economic framework.
A fourth argument is the idea that socialism is for lazy people, that what we have now is a meritocracy that rewards hard work. Usually, people who argue this do not understand how exploitation is inherent to capitalism, and that the proposition of socialism is to place all wealth under the control of the people, who create that wealth.
If you have better rebuttals to the arguments listed above, please comment. If there are other arguments and rebuttals to them, please do the same.
Five, the People’s Judea…
Five, the People’s Judea Front joke from Monty Python. No rebuttal, I nod.
I am not familiar because I…
I am not familiar because I never watched Monty Python beside the first half of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.