By Robert Pembroke
I used to think that there was little difference between liberalism, progressivism and socialism. I was amazed to find the differences and apologize to those whom I mislabeled.
Liberalism is defined as a person who is open to new behaviors and who discards traditional values. Progressivism is defined as a person who supports or advocates for gradual change in certain aspects of society. Finally, socialism is defined as a political and economic theory that believes that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned by the community as a whole. As you can see, only one definition is a specific way to run a government — and that is socialism.
So, let’s see if we can put this new-found information to work. California, at this very moment, is considering two pieces of legislation. The first is to eliminate all low-cost health insurance and the second is to require that corporations with five or more directors must make at least one of them a woman.
If the government has the power to determine who can sit on a company’s board, it has the power to determine which companies will be profitable and which company will not.
If I read the above definitions correctly, then California is a very socialist state. They are putting into the hands of a few elites the means of production, distribution and exchange and leaving it to them to represent the community as a whole.
There are only two possible reasons why California’s legislatures are eliminating low-cost health insurance. The options are: They want “Medicare-for-all” (socialized healthcare) or the lobbyists of healthcare insurers have added a few shekels to the pocketbooks of the California legislators.
I do not have a problem with women as board members. During the eons when I was running Pembroke’s, we always had at least two. And trust me, folks, they were indispensable to the profitability of our company. I heard the California legislator — a woman — who proposed the law on CNBC recently. She said that having women board members makes a company more profitable. Yes, Pembroke’s was profitable and we had women on the board — but more profitable? I don’t know.
The reason why I am writing this column is because I have used these three terms — liberalism, progressivism and socialism — interchangeably without really understanding what I was saying. My loathing of socialism has colored my perspective. Yes, when someone spouts socialistic garbage, I react, and sometimes in the past, I have labeled them liberal and other times I have labeled them progressives. From now on, maybe what I should do is ask them.
In order to have a nap last fall, I tuned in to the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Subconsciously I was bombarded by all sorts of liberal, progressive and socialist catchphrases and when I woke from my nap refreshed, I decided to write this column. Liberalism and progressivism are OK, but as mentioned, socialism is not.
I am a history buff because I believe “The old is forever new.” Do you know of a country where socialism was a success? I don’t. I can name a number of countries where socialism failed its populace and in many instances, it was disastrous to the world. How many people did Stalin massacre under the guise of communism? Hitler’s administration was socialist when you use the above definition. This socialist experiment caused the death of 60 million people — 3 percent of the world’s population.
When I was a wee tike, my mom gave me some sage advice: “Bob, never discuss religion or politics with anyone.” Mom, I have honored your advice when it comes to religion, but, Mom, I have failed you when it comes to politics.
While writing this column, I pondered whether it would be appropriate to ask my liberal, progressive and socialist friends just what category they fall in. I have decided to keep my mouth shut.
Robert Pembroke is the former chairman and CEO of Pembroke’s Inc. in Salt Lake City.