Comedian Calls For Socialism, And He’s Not Joking
“The plans may differ, the planners are all alike.” -Frederic Bastiat
Famed comedian Russell Brand has taken a step into the political sphere and become an editor at The New Statesman magazine. His new political agenda he says is a “socialist egalitarian system” involving a “massive redistribution of wealth”, “heavy taxation of corporations”, and adds that we must address the problem of “profits”. Brand believes that governments need massive centralization, while simultaneously calling for a revolution.
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Of course socialism is not revolutionary. Advocating for social safety nets and redistribution of wealth is more about risk aversion. True revolutionaries are risk-takers, and are people who are willing to take risks and accept hardships. Not so with socialism, which creates a nanny state to make decisions for the people. Socialism is central planning. It means central control of your life.
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Brand will likely crush the hopes of many libertarians who see this video and have enjoyed some of his previous TV appearances talking politics. Many people were stirred by Brand’s unwillingness to bend to the narrow political spectrum that the main stream media projects. That’s refreshing no matter what your politics. But his calls for socialism and for taxation show he is clearly not a revolutionary, nor a particularly original thinker. After all, we’ve had despotism for centuries.
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The only truly radical philosophy today is the one that dares to claim that individuals own their own bodies and the fruits of their labors. It is the philosophy centered on economic freedom and personal liberty. It is the philosophy of natural rights and free markets. It is classical liberalism, the true laissez-faire. THAT is revolutionary, my dear friend. Socialism would be a step back.
Brand is advocating for nothing more than legal plunder. French philosopher Frederic Bastiat once wrote on the topic: “Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole—with their common aim of legal plunder—constitute socialism.”
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Despite Brand’s refreshing candor and undeniable charm, his misunderstanding of the true nature of centralization of government power is unforgivable. It’s intellectually lazy and in truth, dangerous.
Communism and socialism have been responsible for the death of possibly hundreds of millions of people in eastern Europe and Asia in the last century. The butchery of despotic socialist dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Che Guevera, Fidel Castro and Pol-Pot are historic testimonies as to the eventual endgame of the centralization of government power.
Central planning is the “The Road to Serfdom,” which means that when the government has planned everything for you for your life and you are no longer useful to the state, they will offer you their final plan.
Your execution.
