IT'S BACK!
Just thirty years ago, socialism seemed utterly discredited.
An economic, moral, and political failure, socialism had rightly been thrown on the ash heap of history after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Unfortunately, bad ideas never truly go away—and socialism has come back with a vengeance.
A generation of young people who don’t remember the misery that socialism inflicted on Russia and Eastern Europe is embracing it all over again. Oblivious to the unexampled prosperity capitalism has showered upon them, they are demanding utopia.
In his provocative book, The Socialist Temptation, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute explains:
- Why the socialist temptation is suddenly so powerful among young people
- That even when socialism doesn’t usher in a bloody tyranny (as, for example, in the Soviet Union, China, and Venezuela), it still makes everyone poor and miserable
- Why under the relatively benign democratic socialism of Murray's youth in pre-Thatcher Britain, he had to do his homework by candlelight
- That the Scandinavian economies are not really socialist at all
- The inconsistencies in socialist thought that prevent it from ever working in practice
- How we can show young people the sorry truth about socialism and turn the tide of history against this destructive pipe dream
Sprightly, convincing, and original, The Socialist Temptation is a powerful warning that the resurgence of socialism could rob us of our freedom and prosperity.
Did you know that pollutants and estrogen from contraceptives are causing male fish in America to develop female sex organs? Or that ethanol, the liberals' favorite fuel, is destroying the world's rainforests? We hear about AIDS in Africa, but the number-one killer of children in Africa is malaria, and guess who banned the pesticide that used to have malaria under control? Iain Murray's exposé reveals how environmental blowhards actually do more to waste energy, endanger species, and kill people than those they finger, while capitalism, hunting, and old-fashioned property rights have made the planet better. Rather than just myth busting and blame shifting, Murray offers applicable and effective solutions for each catastrophe-something the Left has yet to do.
"Iain Murray, again and again, demonstrates that the motivating passion for environmentalism is too often a desire for political control first and environmental improvement second. He has the keenest of eyes for spotting where science ends and utopianism takes its place-and rationally explaining why this is folly."-National Review Online
