Socialism as a Family Enterprise; Y. Lubkin

The family analogy is, however, Dr. Lubkin is a consulting engineer in Israel. 300 much better than the critics of Socialism believe. In my family, after all, I am the one who deter mines what everyone's need is, and I am the one who determines what efforts are required of each of my seven children. I am a despot, in a very real sense. A benevolent des pot, to be sure, guided mainly by love, but a despot nonetheless. If David wants a sports car, I am the one who decides that he does not "need" it. If Judith wants to stay up an extra hour to watch televi sion, I am the one who decides that she does not "need" that. I decide that Sara has the ability to make her bed and help with the dishes, and that David has the ability to take care of irrigating the orange grove, and woe betide them if they do not perform ac1976 SOCIALISM AS A FAMILY ENTERPRISE 301 cording to my estimate of their ability.

As might be expected, there oc casionally is rebellion in the ranks, which gets more and more serious with age. Adam, at six, may com plain a little, and do his chores with much reluctance on occasion, unless I pay him with money that he can· spend as he pleases, but re bellion is a way of life for David at seventeen. While I may not feel that David is sufficiently mature and capable to cope with the world, David feels that he is, and my choice in the matter is either to let him or to lock him up. I can hardly fault David for his feelings, for they are exactly the same as mine. I resent being told by a Government flunky what I must plant and to whom I may sell it and for what price. I resent be ing forced to obtain the approval of numberless faceless function aries to do what I want to do, and to be prevented from doing it by whim or stupidity or spite. I re sent being liable to punishment for violation of any of thousands of regulations, most of which I have never even heard of and most of which I consider silly, oppressive, arbitrary or offensive. I resent having to pay taxes under threat of violence to support efforts which I disapprove and I resent having to reveal and explain to some clerk, with whom I normally would not even associate, the de tails of my affairs so that he may judge whether adequate funds have been extorted from me.

The comparison between Social ism and the family is better than the Socialist wants. The benevo lent despot can only function with subservience, with children too small and too immature to know better. When the children become adults, they will no longer submit, and insist on running their own lives as they see fit. What the Socialist really wants is not a family, but an Animal Farm. On a farm, the farmer de termines exactly what each animal needs, and that is what the animal gets. H·e may love his horse, but the horse does not get to eat all the oats he wants. He may love his dogs, but they do not get sirloin. The farmer also determines ex actly what each animal's ability is - and enforces his decision. If the farmer decides that a hen should lay 300 eggs a year, either she lays 300 eggs, or she goes to the stew pot. No appeal. When the steer is fat enough, off to the butcher, and when the horse can no longer pull his weight, off to the knacker.

In the Socialist's dream of a Socialist paradise, guess who will be the farmer. ~ The Business of Government CLARENCEB. CARSON IN JANUARY of the year of our Lord 1976, of the United States 200, and of the Constitution 187, President Gerald R. Ford proposed to Congress a budget for the fiscal year 1977. He proposed to spend $394 billion, to raise $351 billion in revenue, and to have a deficit for this coming year of $43 billion. Of the total to be spent, $177 billion is earmarked for what are called welfare programs. This amounts to just about 45% of the total budget. As of January 21, 1976, the national debt stood at $578 billion, and it had grown in a little over six months by the amount of $45 billion. The interest Dr. Carson has written and taught extensively, specializing in American intellectual history. His most recent book, The Rebirth of Liberty (1973), covers the founding of the American Republic from 1760 to 1800.