What is Socialism?

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To understand the roots of socialism, let's journey into the mind and soul of a quivering little boy hiding in a big boy suit. His jacket and tie mask a brooding fear of failure and a yearning for validation that all is wrong with the world, while they also drive his own self-righteous laziness. He believes in socialism, yes, because the socialist within raises his mistakes into afflictions, his afflictions into simple bad luck. Bad luck happens to everyone, he reasons, and to that end, he's right.His inner-socialist cares deeply about material comforts, paying close attention to what and how much "stuff" is possessed by those with more than he has while paying scant little attention to the same among those with less. He knows as a matter of course that those with more have too much, that those with less have too little, and that while he's in neither group himself, he sides with the latter and "fights" for vagaries like "equality" and "social justice" because those terms surface often on the Web sites he visits.He knows little of anyone's individual plight, nor does he care -- as his laziness supersedes his curiosity. Conversely he knows little of how those with wealth acquired it, nor does he care. Instead of taking the time to learn how divergent paths led different folks to different outcomes he focuses only on the apparent unfairness seen in a momentary snapshot of people's lives.To overcome his own insecurities and deficiencies he has convinced himself that right and wrong are relative to the goals at hand, that most people are incapable of crafting a suitable life for themselves and their families, and that smarter people, if given the power and position, can manage the lives of everyone else with greater wisdom and care while ensuring fairness and justice throughout society. He believes most people desire this type of civilization -- and anyone who does not simply opposes fairness and justice.But will this man-child fight for this belief system? No -- as he lacks the drive and courage for such rowdiness and commotion. He instead latches onto the political process and uses candidates and campaigns to convert government into that body of wise men he so wishes were running things. These candidates cater directly to him and voters like him, promising to use the force of law to craft a safe society for all -- where those too scared, too lazy, or too uninterested in burning their own individual paths through life are not required (or permitted) to do so: the government will set everything up for everyone.This man-child socialist will always defer to his "government parents" then in all matters because he trusts them. He considers them a better class of people, people who don't share the incompetency and weaknesses he assigns to himself and his neighbors. The government will figure everything out because it knows best, and where it must impede on individual liberties, confiscate property, or use force in some cases to bring about the societal reforms envisioned, that is tolerable and should never be questioned. Even when he finds that government leaders have become far wealthier and more powerful than the very people he so disdained before, he ignores this fact -- or excuses it -- even as his individual liberties are trampled ("I'm not doing anything wrong"), even as his property is confiscated ("I'll pay higher taxes to help people"), even when they apply force against him ("The police are just doing their jobs").Until he receives his health insurance cancellation notice in the mail.