Bernie Sanders / Fox NewsThis story was originally published by Real Clear WireBy Richard PorterThe success of candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America brings to mind the old saw that Americans will do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else. The quote is often, and erroneously, attributed to Winston Churchill. He never said anything like it. He loved Americans, and had choice words – more on that below – about socialists.I understand that tens of millions of working people are spinning their wheels trying to make ends meet – and are frustrated with a political class that gives them endless words but few positive solutions. But DSA dreaming is the wrong answer.Being free to work for money in a free market system is what empowers individuals – and fuels the kind of robust economy that makes the United States a magnet for migrants, legal and illegal, from all over the world. By contrast, under systems in which the government replaces the market (i.e. socialism), people still have to work, but have far less opportunity to ever escape living hand-to-mouth.When money is free, human beings aren’t – they just work by decree instead. Consider the following facts:1) The vast majority of people who earn more than $100,000 annually in the USA “work all night and work all day” to earn their keep. The men and women building today’s amazing new companies (and the lawyers, bankers, accountants, construction workers, and tradesmen running hard to keep up) literally work around the clock; construction workers on data center projects make 30% more than their peers on other projects. And hard work is not unique to the tech sector; four out of every five millionaires accumulated wealth by working, saving, and investing.2) The top 1% of earners in the U.S. pay about 40% and the top 10% pay about 70% of all income taxes collected by the government. Income we earn by working is taxed at progressively higher rates based on income levels, but socialists and their brethren progressives complain that passive income going to the wealthy is taxed at lower rates. That’s a misunderstanding. The income we receive from investments is taxed at lower rates than earned income to reduce the “double taxation” problem. Businesses are usually taxed on their income and then the investor is taxed on the income from or capital gains realized on his or her investment in that business, effectively taxing the same income twice.It’s simply incontrovertible that the well-to-do finance most of what government does for everyone else, and income earned by the rich is taxed at higher rates than income earned by moderate or low-income households.3) Yes, it is better to have more rather than less money. When we have money left after paying our taxes and bills, we can save to pay for future bills, we can splurge on luxuries, we can invest in businesses so the money we saved works for us too, we can pay for conveniences like taking an Uber instead of public transportation, or we can give it away to family, to friends, or to charities we support.It’s also true that “millionaires and billionaires” have a lot more money than they need to pay their bills – but there are only three things they can do with money (after paying hefty taxes that benefit the general welfare): Spend it on necessities, luxuries, or conveniences; save and invest it; or give it away.4) Note that there is someone else on the other side of every dollar a millionaire or billionaire spends, invests, or gives away.There are farmers, truckers, carpenters, plumbers, HVAC salesmen, store clerks – everything anyone spends money on goes back to another human being somewhere in our vast economy, who in turn spends the dollars they are paid.When someone saves and invests, the money also goes to another human being – who’s building a business (corporations don’t run themselves!) or a building or a computer or providing a service of one kind or another.And when someone gives money away, whether to family or friends or to someone running a charity, each and every dollar ultimately flows to and through other human beings.5) What’s different for millionaires and billionaires is that by being able to give away large amounts of money, they can change the way the rest of us live.They can finance the building of universities or parks, they can fund museums or buy police better equipment, they can distribute free food, they can build churches, staff shelters, and finance theaters – earning acclaim for their generosity to the rest of us.They can underwrite think tanks or fund academics they admire, pay for political ads, and distribute movies to promote ideals and impact how we think. The truth is: After taking care of family and friends and buying some fancy toys, there’s nothing more fun for millionaires and billionaires to do with their money than giving it away.As we saw in this year’s midterm elections, there are billionaires on both sides of our political divide trying to help elect politicians who espouse policies they believe will protect rights or advance causes that make our communities, states, and nations better.6) Nearly every millionaire and billionaire believes they can change the world by how they give money away, so almost everyone who’s rich gives to advance their core beliefs or to address an urgent need in society.Millionaires and billionaires actually tend to be generous people who seek to make life better for us, each in their own way. Plus, millionaires and billionaires have the wherewithal to stand up to government and often have the creativity to show government new and better ways to help people.7) Accumulating wealth by stealing from or exploiting others, or by selling influence or inside information, is illegal, and we despise behavior that skirts the edges of illegality. Very little of the wealth in America is accumulated in this manner – instead our wealth arises from free transactions which benefit both parties to the deal.When we buy a new iPhone or car, we are excited to be able to use the new product, even when paying the price is a stretch. When we buy something, the thing we are buying is obviously worth more to us than the money we use to buy it – American wealth comes from billions of voluntary transactions that are wins for both sides.8) Nonetheless, socialist activists and candidates and progressives aligned with them treat all accumulated wealth as a bad thing – and seek to have the government take that wealth and spend it instead.They loudly insist that wealth is made “on the backs” of workers and hoarded by the wealthy. But money is no longer a physical thing – currency represents a small fraction of all the money that “exists,” so as a practical matter money can’t be physically hoarded the way Scrooge or Smaug the dragon hoarded physical wealth. Money is now just electrons on a computer, and as such, money is always being used – the bank is actually constantly investing money that appears to be sitting in my bank account.Money is always moving, moving, moving, being used by humans for something. When the rich have money, other people are using it, benefiting from it, and receiving it too. When no one has money there’s no money for other people to use, benefiting from or receiving it either.9) But then, under socialism – and the ill-considered “billionaire tax” is a good start – won’t the government have all the money and control all the money-making enterprises, so wouldn’t it better for everyone? In a word, no. And you don’t have to go back to the Russian Revolution to look for explanations. There’s a reason the Biden administration felt the need to grant 500,000 work visas to Venezuelans, among others. Venezuela voted in a socialist government, which almost immediately wrecked one of Latin America’s most vibrant economies.Even in the “people’s paradise” work must be done. It’s just that in every country that ever tried to use Marxism as its guide, the economy flounders and eventually grinds to a halt. Taking away the profit motive takes away incentives – from bellhops to hoteliers. It’s called human nature. Human beings are not necessarily innately greedy, but they are aspirational.Working because the government commands us to – or because we are afraid of being punished by the government – turns out to be far less motivational than working because you think you might get ahead.Working for money sets us free. Giving money away is gratifying. When money is free, then we’ll work by decree, and government will rule by pointing a gun. The DSA dream is delusional; their popularity this year is scary; and their total victory would be America’s nightmare – and Europe’s. Winston Churchill expressed this view two months after the end of World War II. And this quote is real:“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of its blessings,” he told the House of Commons. “The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.Richard Porter is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alfa Institute, a platform for ideas, policy proposals and new technology integration pertaining to artificial intelligenceThe post The Rich, the Rest and Where Marxists Go Wrong appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.