A Sporting Tribute to Socialism

I like it when people mark a long-running career with a good sendoff. For sportscaster Vin Scully, apparently he may be looking for a retirement gig in political analysis.

Socialism just doesn’t work. The tragedy of the commons eventually creates too many free riders, who are incentivized to not effort to better themselves, but to become better takers against the system. It cannot succeed, so long as the daily means for survival – food, and shelter, remain limited resources. Perhaps someday that may no longer hold true – see Star Trek for your generic utopian vision of that triumph over necessity.

Whenever socialism has been tried, it either slowly morphs into a dictatorship, or descends into true communism. Neither is what I would describe as a winning strategy.

On the eve of the Brexit vote, I’m reminded of what Margaret Thatcher once said: “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”