If the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated anything, it’s that governments are ill-equipped to address major problems on their own. Amid panic and pandemic, the private sector is already playing a major role in COVID-19 relief, and, if the government were left to handle this on its own, it’s likely this situation would be even worse.
It’s no coincidence that during this time, socialist Bernie Sanders failed to garner widespread support and ultimately dropped out of the presidential race. Sanders and his allies are using the outbreak as an opportunity to highlight the supposed shortcomings of capitalism. Bare shelves and long lines at grocery stores, they say, demonstrate that capitalism is inherently incapable of fulfilling human needs.
What they fail to point out is that shortages are merely a temporary reaction to surges in quantity demanded. Given time, markets will adjust. The same cannot be said in socialist economies, where shortages are as common as a rainy day in Seattle.
As gas stations offer food to hungry supply chain workers, businesses offer portions of their profits to relief efforts, and distilleries manufacture hand sanitizer to replenish our short supply, this voluntary intervention from the private sector demonstrates the good nature at the heart of capitalism. Fortunately, it seems that many took note of this on their way to the ballot box during presidential primaries.
From dealing with the coronavirus to addressing climate change, socialists’ aversion to reality looms large in all kinds of debates. Just as socialists insist that their preferred economic system has never been tried, they too claim that only an economic revolution will save the environment from the evils of capitalism.
Despite their fierce opposition, socialists can never seem to articulate which environmental failures result from capitalism. Is it the fact that companies are voluntarily investing billions into clean energy, or is it greater emissions reductions in capitalist countries that are the cause for concern?
This distorted view of capitalism leads socialists such as Sanders to propose policies such as nationalizing electricity production and fossil fuel bans. The Sanders plan would be a dream come true for champagne socialists hungry for hostile government takeovers, but it would fail everyday people. Privately owned utilities would be driven out of business all in the name of a hastened, unrealistic transition to 100% renewable energy. Considering the nationalization of energy and electricity was a major factor in the collapse of the Venezuelan economy, it is shameful to see the same policy proposals coming from Sanders.
As much as socialists like to blame capitalism for propping up the fossil fuel industry, no country can fulfill its energy needs today with renewable sources alone. Fossil fuels play an integral role in modern society, and banning them would force the United States either to import energy from less sustainable countries or suffer from skyrocketing domestic prices. Americans, especially in states that rely on coal economically, do not want to see industries unilaterally destroyed.
Forget the fact that carbon capture has the potential to make fossil fuels sustainable and that advanced nuclear technology could expand access to a carbon-free source of energy. Neither one of these technologies score high enough on the socialist moral hierarchy, so their positive environmental impacts are ignored altogether in devising solutions. Sanders has asserted time and time again that nuclear is not a part of his agenda.
This degree of miscalculation is a central tenet of socialism, leading the environment and economy to suffer as a result. Placing a handful of central planners in charge and restricting property rights is a big-government recipe for disaster, as such a system removes incentives to conserve resources and leads to declines in productivity. This explains why socialist countries today and throughout history suffer from economic and environmental catastrophes. This is also why Americans, over and over, reject socialist presidential candidates such as Sanders.
None of this is to say that capitalism is perfect — no economic system can expand its productivity without creating consequences for the environment. However, what is abundantly clear is that capitalism is superior to socialism when it comes to protecting the environment and economy into the future, well past this presidential election.
Danielle Butcher (@DaniSButcher) is the executive vice president of the American Conservation Coalition. Morgan Zegers (@MorganZegers) is the founder of Young Americans Against Socialism.
