The Case Against Socialism

by Rand Paul

Overview

A recent poll showed 43% of Americans think more socialism would be a good thing. What do these people not know?

Socialism has killed millions, but it’s now the ideology du jour on American college campuses and among many leftists. Reintroduced by leaders such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ideology manifests itself in starry-eyed calls for free-spending policies like Medicare-for-all and student loan forgiveness.

In The Case Against Socialism, Rand Paul outlines the history of socialism, from Stalin’s gulags to the current famine in Venezuela. He tackles common misconceptions about the “utopia” of socialist Europe. As it turns out, Scandinavian countries love capitalism as much as Americans, and have, for decades, been cutting back on the things Bernie loves the most.

Socialism’s return is only possible because many Americans have forgotten the true dangers of the twentieth-century’s deadliest ideology. Paul reveals the devastating truth: for every college student sporting a Che Guevara T-shirt, there’s a Venezuelan child dying of starvation. Desperate refugees flee communist Cuba to escape oppressive censorship, rationed food and squalid hospitals, not “free” healthcare. Socialist dictatorships like the People’s Republic of China crush freedom of speech and run massive surveillance states while masquerading as enlightened modern nations. Far from providing economic freedom, socialist governments enslave their citizens. They offer illusory promises of safety and equality while restricting personal liberty, tightening state power, sapping human enterprise and making citizens dependent on the dole.

If socialism takes hold in America, it will imperil the fate of the world’s freest nation, unleashing a plague of oppressive government control. The Case Against Socialism is a timely response to that threat and a call to action against the forces menacing American liberty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062954862
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	280,397
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, M.D., is one of the nation’s leading advocates for liberty. Elected to the United States Senate in 2010, he has proven to be an outspoken champion for constitutional liberties and fiscal responsibility.

Kelley Ashby Paul serves as Kentucky co-chair of Helping A Hero, a wounded veterans charity that has built over 100 fully adapted homes for soldiers who have suffered severe injuries.  Kelley also serves on the board for the Coalition for Public Safety, a bipartisan organization dedicated to criminal justice reform. 

Rand and Kelley have been married since 1990 and are the parents of three sons.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Because Eating Your Pets Is Overrated-Socialism Creates Poverty

Chapter 1 Socialism Destroyed Venezuela's Once-Vibrant Economy 9

Chapter 2 Socialism Rewards Corruption 17

Chapter 3 Interfering with Free Markets Causes Shortages 23

Chapter 4 Capitalism Is the More Moral System 29

Chapter 5 Capitalism Benefits the Middle Class 34

Chapter 6 Income Inequality Does Not Ruin the Economy or Corrupt Government 41

Chapter 7 Under Capitalism, the 1 Percent Is Always Changing 47

Chapter 8 The Poor Are Better Off Under Capitalism 51

Part II Capitalism Makes Scandinavia Great

Chapter 9 Bernie's Socialism Also Includes Praise for Dictators 63

Chapter 10 Today's American Socialists Don't Know What Socialism Means 69

Chapter 11 Bernie Sanders Is Too Liberal to Get Elected in Denmark 76

Chapter 12 No, Bernie, Scandinavia Is Not Socialist 79

Chapter 13 Sweden's Riches Actually Came from Capitalism 84

Chapter 14 The Nordic Model Is Welfarism, Not Socialism 93

Chapter 15 Sweden Is Shrinking Taxes and Welfare 104

Chapter 16 Welfarism Requires High Middle-Class Taxes 110

Chapter 17 American Scandinavians Have It Better Here Than in Scandinavia 117

Chapter 18 Swedish College Is Free, but It's Not Cheap or Universal 124

Part III A Boot Stamping on the Human Face Forever-Socialism and Authoritarianism

Chapter 19 Socialism Becomes Authoritarianism 129

Chapter 20 Hitler Was a Socialist 139

Chapter 21 The Nazis Hated Capitalism 147

Chapter 22 The Nazis Didn't Believe in Private Property 150

Chapter 23 Socialism Encourages Eugenics 156

Chapter 24 Your Degree of Enthusiasm for Socialism May Decide Whether You Live or Die 161

Part IV Socialism Doesn't Create Equality

Chapter 25 Socialism Promises Equality and Leads to Tyranny 169

Chapter 26 All Aspects of Culture Eventually Become Targets for the Planners 178

Chapter 27 If No One Has to Work, No One Will 190

Chapter 28 The Cure for Failed Socialism Is Always More Socialism 194

Chapter 29 Poetry Can Be Dangerous Under Socialism 203

Chapter 30 It's Not Socialism Without Purges 212

Part V Where Are These Angels? The Philosophy of Socialism

Chapter 31 Socialism Expects Selfless Rulers and Citizens 219

Chapter 32 Progress Comes from Rebels and Dreamers 227

Chapter 33 Freedom Is Not the Inevitable Outcome of History and Must Be Protected 236

Part VI Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: Socialism and Alarmism

Chapter 34 Socialism Leads to Cronyism 247

Chapter 35 If Socialists Can't Find a Crisis, They Will Create One 251

Chapter 36 Socialism and Climate Change Alarmism Go Together 258

Chapter 37 Socialist Green New Deal Allows for No Dissent 266

Chapter 38 Fake News and Propaganda on the Rise in America 279

Chapter 39 Welcome to the Panopticon: FaceCrime, PreCrime, and the Surveillance State 286

Afterword: Finding Common Ground 298

Acknowledgments 307

Notes 309

Index 339

Editorial Reviews

You wouldn’t think a book like this would be necessary but it is, and thank God we have it. Pay special attention to chapter 19, ‘Socialism Becomes Authoritarianism.’ It does, every time.”  — Tucker Carlson

“Anyone who loves America—our freedom, our Judeo-Christian tradition— must read this book. Thanks to Rand Paul for reminding all of us of the perils of today’s faddish belief that more government control will make us happier.”  — Laura Ingraham, Fox News host, The Ingraham Angle

“No U.S. senator in the modern era can rival Senator Rand Paul’s fidelity to the first principles of the free market. In this no-holds-barred and fun-to-read broadside, Paul shows why and how he stands alone in defending your right to engage in economic activities free from government intrusion and your constitutional right to a federal government that spends less than it takes. He also demonstrates how everything the central planners touch turns into dust.” — Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, senior judicial analyst, Fox News Channel, and bestselling author

“I grew up in China during one of history’s darkest eras: Mao’s socialistic Cultural Revolution. I appreciate the freedom that I have now in America so much because I used to not have it. All Americans need to read The Case Against Socialism, so that we will be reminded just how precious our freedom and our country are.” — Ming Wang, MD, PhD, Nashville, TN

“Communists in Russia killed my father. My mother experienced socialism up close and personal. I’ve lived under socialism while working in Cuba and South America. This book explains concisely and historically how state violence and poverty is not an aberration of socialism, but rather its inevitable consequence.” — Jon Basil Utley, publisher, The American Conservative

From the Publisher

Anyone who loves America—our freedom, our Judeo-Christian tradition— must read this book. Thanks to Rand Paul for reminding all of us of the perils of today’s faddish belief that more government control will make us happier.” 

Laura Ingraham

You wouldn’t think a book like this would be necessary but it is, and thank God we have it. Pay special attention to chapter 19, ‘Socialism Becomes Authoritarianism.’ It does, every time.” 

Tucker Carlson

I grew up in China during one of history’s darkest eras: Mao’s socialistic Cultural Revolution. I appreciate the freedom that I have now in America so much because I used to not have it. All Americans need to read The Case Against Socialism, so that we will be reminded just how precious our freedom and our country are.

Ming Wang

Communists in Russia killed my father. My mother experienced socialism up close and personal. I’ve lived under socialism while working in Cuba and South America. This book explains concisely and historically how state violence and poverty is not an aberration of socialism, but rather its inevitable consequence.

Jon Basil Utley

No U.S. senator in the modern era can rival Senator Rand Paul’s fidelity to the first principles of the free market. In this no-holds-barred and fun-to-read broadside, Paul shows why and how he stands alone in defending your right to engage in economic activities free from government intrusion and your constitutional right to a federal government that spends less than it takes. He also demonstrates how everything the central planners touch turns into dust.

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano