Credit is Kinda like Communism

Yes, you read that correctly! Credit is like Communism.

    Now at first glance, something that seems to be a central capitalist institution cannot possibly have anything to do with communism, but when I say this, I'm referring to a particular mindset that credit breeds, a mindset that is very much amenable to adopting socialism.

Leader May I?

    For the people I knew who lived under communism, everything was a game of "Leader May I?" As in, "Leader, may I have the promotion that gets me the nicer apartment?", "Leader, may I get usage rights to the company car?", or just "Leader, may I get an addition to my ration card because my kid is hungry?" It was all on the appropriate leader's discretion.

    Now sure, the state talked about how "free" everyone was because they were providing the big things and you supposedly didn't have to worry, but you had no freedom because every decision about anything important was decided by the state. Or at least your local Party secretary.

Banker May I?

    Given how much debt people carry today, having credit, insurance, and other third parties creates a similar environment.

"Banker, may I purchase this car instead of that one?"

"Banker, may I go to this college?"

"Banker, may I have this house?"

"Insurance Provider, may I go to this hospital?"

    There are differences, but note the mindset involved in both cases. You might as well replace all of the leading nouns with Daddy.

Debt-freedom destroys socialism

    I wanted to share this similarity in mindset because I want to point something out about how to fight socialism. Usually we come from a dry, economics-heavy and academic approach, but if someone's daily practice is to play "Banker May I?" predatory socialists can deceive them by saying "Banker is Capitalist Leader. Dear Leader is Socialist Leader. Banker says No, Dear Leader will say Yes." If you are in enough debt, you are already a slave to an arbitrary Leader, so the idea of trading "Mean Leader" for "Nice Leader" is really not such a stretch. Even though Dear Leader is looking to redistribute all the goods to himself.

    This is what makes debt-freedom an intellectual nuke that destroys socialism in the mind. The minute you have no debt, the minute you own something, and have something to lose that was not simply given to you, you quickly grow to hate the childish notion of begging someone to permission to have something. You now have the control.

    I've written about some of the ways we can make this happen practically in the Debt Free Society essays, but if you are involved politically, looking for ways to make certain big ticket items lower cost, and making debt-free living easier, are powerful ways to make socialism repugnant at a cultural level.

This is a part of the Why Socialism Fails essay series.