To the Editor:
Frank Dunphy’s letter (“Socialism and progressivism spread poverty,” Aug. 6-12 edition) requires a response.
It was a pedantically written argument against two authoritarian “socialist” governments currently suffering economic distress (certainly not models for the USA) but ignoring successful democratic socialism in other countries, particularly Northern Europe, that hold positive economic lessons for all democracies. To quote George Bernard Shaw, “There is only one genuine socialism, the democratic sort, by which I mean the organization of society for the benefit of the whole people.”
Dunphy instead posits a utopian version of Adam Smith’s advocacy for an entrepreneurial system based on individual self interest that would be led “by an invisible hand” to the greatest good for all (that is, only for those who are lucky to not suffer failure and systemically lose out on the “greatest good”). Now we realize that modern capitalism enriches many Horatio Algers but leaves too many behind.
The problem with both socialism and capitalism is that they can be gamed by strongmen to distort the laudable goals of each, resulting in poverty for multitudes. In these stressful times, we are seeing those opportunistic authoritarian rulers arise in too many countries — from China, Venezuela and Russia to the Philippines, Turkey and, yes, perhaps even in America.
David Warren is professor emeritus at Duke University.