Socialism and job market diversity

It's remarkable how many people pushing for socialism don't even know what socialism means. In short, it's the idea that businesses are owned and operated by the government. I wanted to write something basic about what this means that surprisingly few people have caught onto.

In a socialist economy, all businesses are run by the same group. They might install different leaders to more directly handle individual businesses, but everything is based on the same demands of the same government. This minimizes the differences between businesses.

Even in our pseudo-capitalist economy, the job market is nowhere near as diverse as it needs to be. The specific job tasks vary, but the general expectations for workers is way too similar among the different employers. If one job doesn't work well for you, it's very difficult to find a job that will.

A big part of the problem with modern businesses is that our government has already become too controlling. We overregulate. Businesses simply don't have the freedom to operate as they see fit.

Some overregulation is subtle. A lot of seemingly simple regulations can have underestimated consequences. One of the best examples I can provide is from an industry that is already socialist, schooling. In Washington, we passed a law requiring schools to offer a set sex ed curriculum. This law is dependent on all schools embracing the concept of a set curriculum. If a school instead embraces the unique needs of individual students, they can't comply with the law. This progress-inhibitive law is built on an assumption, and it can only work if schools conform to the assumption.

Schools provide an example of how socialism doesn't work. The government has essentially created a horribly performing monopoly. Alternatives haven't been outlawed, but they are at a severe disadvantage. They are being regulated by their competition. As a result, an overwhelming majority of the population goes through the government-run model. Regulations force them to operate in a far too similar manner, inhibiting much needed change. The financial model perhaps provides the biggest obstacle to competition. We are all forced to fund government-run schools. If you take your child elsewhere, you will be forced to fund both the government-run school and the school of your choice. This puts low-income families at a serious disadvantage.

Imagine expanding this concept beyond schools. Do you want every business in the country run like our schools? Not only should we worry about poor performance, but this further diminishes job market diversity. Different people have different needs, different strengths, and different interests. Diversifying ownership and operations certainly seems preferable to putting everything under the umbrella of the government.