If you want a clear example of the definition of insanity then you can look no further than socialism.

Every country that has ever instituted it as it’s economic system has wound up looking both in operation and aesthetic like the societal version of a meth addict. It’s just gross.  

And it’s no wonder why. Socialism is theft, death, and authoritarianism wrapped up into one lazily thought out package. Examples include Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela as extreme examples, but even the lighter examples like the Scandanavian countries the left likes to point to don’t do so hot under it either.

In fact, you’ll find that some of them, including Sweden, backed off a bit from it after finding out socialism was crashing their economy faster than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is crashing hers.

But instead of going into the standard economic argument since that’s been talked about ad nauseum. Instead, I want to tackle a reason why socialism fails from a perspective I rarely ever hear talked about, and that reason is because human nature will not allow it.

Now there’s a romantic notion behind socialism. It seems revolutionary, and carries connotations of being fair, caring, and inclusive. What it actually causes is what it would look like if Sarah McLaughlin did a commercial for people.

This is caused because the socialist system requires a populace that cooperates perfectly, both with one another and the governing body. This wouldn’t be a problem if we were all hive minded robots, but we’re not. We’re egocentric flesh and blood individuals of the advanced ape variety.

We want more resources, better mating options, higher status, and better living conditions. We all want these things in varying degrees, and some of us will work harder and longer in order to get these things. What’s more, we’re all different. Some of us will be born with unique skills or traits that help us get ahead of the other advanced apes, and some of us will just be able to outsmart or outperform others due to education or training.

Some people will just get luckier than others because the world is chaotic like that.

So there will always be someone capable of achieving and gathering more than someone else, and they’ll want it more than others as well, driving them to do what’s necessary to manipulate or navigate the system better than others in order to achieve their goals.

In some cases this is completely a result of the human capacity for greed. In many cases it’s just a living creatures ancient tendency to provide the best possible outcomes for ourselves and our familial units or tribes. Every tribe or family is different, and some will need more of something than others for various reasons.

One tribe may require more food, water, medicine, housing, or equipment based on where they live, the condition of their family members, or their profession. To say that everyone would be able to just have the same as everyone else is an impossibility.

“Now Brandon,” says the socialist, “in our system they would receive all that is needed.”

No they won’t. The socialist system has proven repeatedly that it can’t create abundance enough for everyone. It can’t even create the minimum in more cases than not. This is because it is an actual impossibility to create abundance in a system where there is no benefit for creating more than the bare minimum. If the human mind sees no results from extra labor then he rightfully considers it a waste of time and moves on to do something more productive, or he’ll go do nothing at all. The only way to get him to continue to produce is by force.

But completely ignored by socialists is the human capacity for envy, and envy can drive the ape in us to great lengths in order to either be on level with our rival or, as is often case, exceed him.

If he sees his rival with more of something than him, he’s probably going to want that too. He may not understand the reasons the other person has more, or due to personal beliefs might not care. In order to make things fair, he will demand he be given the same amount as his rival.

That said, it goes beyond someone wanting to have the same amount of resources.

Let’s say a man sees that his neighbor, brother, rival – it really doesn’t matter – has a beautiful woman as a mate. Suddenly, the ape brain starts to feel a good ol’ fashioned round of lust. That man will want to have a beautiful mate as well. An attractive mate is status and a measure of personal worth, especially for males.

To attract her, he’ll want to find a way to sweeten the deal for the woman to become his. This will typically work on women because women are greatly attracted to abundance, status, safety, and comfort. I can quote you a myriad of studies about both the human and animal mentality of females about this, but I don’t think I need to. 

Besides, you think rich dudes having hot girlfriends and wives is a fluke? Come on.

Now this usually involves gathering more resources in order to improve his living conditions, but also himself. He’ll want better clothing, better cologne, a better car, etc. He’s going to push his game as high as he can get it.

Now in a socialist system, in order to gain more, he’d have to break rules. He’d have to get more food, more wealth, more products, and to get them he’d have to manipulate the system a bit. This involves anything from lying and stealing, to cheating.

If he succeeds he has more property than before, and the system that doesn’t produce in abundance suddenly has a deficit. Remember, this is a system that cannot produce abundance both in principle and by its very nature.

Somebody isn’t going to get the amount of resources they typically need because the horny guy needed to show his woman of choice that he’s willing to go further to secure more resources for her.

Now, someone else is going to have less food, toilet paper, medicine, etc. Suddenly the system that promises “to everyone according to his need” can’t deliver on that need part. Furthermore, that guy who needs something will do what it takes to fill in those blanks on his resource pile. He might even do what’s necessary to hoard a little more just in case something like this happens again in the future, thus creating even more deficits. Who knows what kind domino effect that could cause? 

And all this because one dude saw a hot chick…and there are a lot of dudes, and a lot of hot chicks.

In order to avoid any of this happening, the man would first have to lose his will for something better, and that is impossible. That’s not how the human brain, or the natural order of things works. Our species is not suited for the kind of societal structure necessary to make socialism work.

As a general rule, we regard our personal lives and the lives of our tribe to be too great for sacrifice and will do whatever is necessary to make sure the health, comfort, and status of our little units in our communities is well maintained, and even elevated, when the opportunity presents itself.

As famed entomologist E.O. Wilson said of humans and Marxism, “Wonderful theory! Wrong species.”

And he’s right. We don’t have the necessary natural wiring to care about the general populace at large. In fact, the concern for strangers is so low that many of us would cause harm to a fellow human if it protected your dog from them, and your dog isn’t even of the same species as you. 

If resources were infinite, and we could elevate the condition of our intelligence or physical appearance to achieve our desired goals at will then there would be no need for all of this struggle. Even then, socialism STILL wouldn’t be a thing because it wouldn’t be necessary in this scenario.

But that’s not the reality we live in. Resources are finite, and each of us is born unequal in some way shape or form.

Put plainly, in the world as we currently inhabit it, and in thanks to the species we belong to, a socialist system is an impossibility on par with a flat Earth.

Yes. Socialists are the equivalent of flat-Earthers.