Why Europe is not socialist – not even close.

In the past decades, socialism has become a vogue topic amongst young voters in the US. As America’s youth seek a more just and harmonious economic system, one that does not leave out the hungry, the needy, and the sick, they are being lured by the much older and wiser left-wing politicians into the idea that Socialism provides what they are looking for. A Utopian reality that can hypnotize even the smartest and wisest of them.


As hundreds of thousands of individuals that have survived socialism come forth to warn of the horrors and dangers this system sows, the left tries to use Europe, and more importantly, Scandinavia, as poster-boys of how socialism can ‘work’.


However, by simply looking at the definition of Socialism by Merriam Webster, we can quickly discard any narrative that Europe is ‘socialist’. They are far from it.

In socialism, all means of production are controlled by the state. In socialist states (none in Europe) you immediately see the inefficiencies that stem from running organizations and businesses from a collective mentality and not a for-profit mentality. Top performance and efficiency disappear. Farms that could feed 10,000 people will either stop producing or produce for 1,000. Efficient supply chains begin to disintegrate and the state is left to coordinate it all.  Eventually, as food begins to run scarce, people begin to blame the government. Soon enough, governments resort to force to quiet the masses.

In Europe, capitalism reigns supreme!

Europe has social policies just as we have in the US. These programs fall in line with what most modern-day governments do: provide what the general population cannot. They provide defense, infrastructure, and other common-good needs that are not available, or would be hard to achieve without the massive backing of government. In Europe these programs extend to healthcare and education with much higher government involvement than that of the US, but at a very high cost to the tax-payer.

However, to claim European nations are socialist is a complete lie that is only geared to capture the vote of unsuspecting voters ready to jump into the electoral pool.

As the famous saying goes:

“If you’re not a socialist at twenty, you have no heart, and if you’re not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.”