Socialism and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I never thought I would see the day when a blatant socialist was receiving so much traction among the American electorate, but, alas, that day has come. And in listening to Bernie Sanders’s speeches and hearing the rapturous cheers of his audience, I can’t help but be reminded of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . . .

The scene opens with a cheerily cloaked man prancing through the square leading a horse-drawn cart as light-hearted music is heard. As the camera reveals his face, the music turns more ominous, suggesting to the audience that trouble might be on the way. However, the unsuspecting Jeremy and Jemima, playing inside nearby, hear only the calls of “Ice cream! Chocolate! All free today!”

Despite Jemima’s warnings, Jeremy is drawn to the window and gazes wide-eyed at the lollipops appearing just outside. The man continues to lure the children with promises of “cherry pie, cream puffs, ice cream, treacle tart…” once again reminding them that the items are “aaallll freeee  today!”

“Treacle tart!” Jeremy exclaims. “And all free!”

Only one more call from the man as he turns to leave and Jeremy is sold. He turns to run out the door, but Jemima reminds him that Truly instructed them to stay inside. His response? “We’ll get Truly some as well! Come on!”

With that, the siblings run to catch the man and his colorful cart. Elderly neighbors see Jeremy and Jemima run by and yell warnings but to no avail. Hearing the children run up behind him, the man with a sinister gleam in his eye turns to greet the children, pasting on a disarming smile and encouraging them with, “Come along, my little dears, my little mice.”

The children reach the cart, and their delighted screams reach a fevered pitch as the man asks what they would like, once again listing all the “free” items he had to give. All it takes now is for him to tell the children that the free goodies are inside the cart, and Jeremy and Jemima rush up the ladder. No sooner do their feet cross the threshold than they receive a rough push that sends them stumbling into the vehicle.

Immediately, the door slams shut and the colorful trappings of the cart fall away to reveal the children trapped in an ugly metal cage. The children’s screams have turned from delighted to horrified as the man carries them away with a maniacal laugh. The Child Catcher has struck again.

With this unsettling scene the parallels to socialism are staggering. Simply replace “cherry pie, cream puffs, and ice cream” with health care, housing, and a college education, and you begin to see the dangerous nature of socialists’ claims.  After all, who doesn’t like the sound of “free”? Especially, “All free!”

But just like the empty promises of the Child Catcher, socialist promises of free health care and free college are naïve at best, deceitful at worst. Yes, there really were lollipops, but there was no ice cream, no cream puffs, and certainly no treacle tart. We might get free health care, but what good will it do when there is nowhere to go to get that health care? Free college sounds great, but with degrees already as insignificant as they are now, of what value will they be when everyone has them?

Socialists are able to sell the public on the idea of all this free stuff because they imply that if these things were free, then our lives would be better. But a thoughtful consideration of the logical progression of such a state leads to the exact opposite conclusion—not to mention the fact that a reality where all is free is categorically impossible.

The phrase, “Nothing is free” is not just a description of the current state of affairs; it is an explanation of the persistent reality that everything costs something and someone has to pay that cost. Our own salvation is a perfect example of this. Eternal life is not free. No, we do not have to pay the price for our depravity ourselves, but the price was monumentally high, and it was paid by God Himself through the death of His Son Jesus.

Similarly, free health care, free college, free fill-in-the-blank is impossible. Everything costs, if not in money, then in time, in resources—i.e. in capital. But maybe you’re okay with that, as long as you’re not the one that has to pay. You might be thinking, Even if it costs someone, it can still be free for me . . . right?

Aside from that mentality’s being characterized by greed (which ironically is the vice that Bernie Sanders seems to be repudiating), it’s also naïve because, in the context of a socialist society, the services that are promised to be free are paid for by increased taxation—for everyone—and by government control of resources—everyone’s resources. So it might seem that you aren’t paying the cost, but you are—in money and, more importantly, in freedom.

The term “socialism” sounds positive enough, but its definition reveals the disturbing truth behind the disarming title: “Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy” (The American Heritage College Dictionary, Fourth Edition).

By giving in to a socialist government, you are giving over control of your life and your resources to a small group of people in the government who get to decide what is best for you and for everyone else. Don’t be deceived for a minute. It’s not just the Wall Street billionaires who are the target of socialist policies—everyone is affected.

Oh, but, everyone will benefit, supporters of Sanders might be thinking. That’s what Jeremy thought, too. He rationalized chasing after a suspicious man and ignoring the instruction of someone who knew more about the world than he did by convincing himself (and his sister) that they could get some free goodies for Truly too! But in truth no one got free goodies—only imprisonment.

Jeremy and Jemima didn’t heed the warnings of the townspeople either—people who knew who the Child Catcher was, had seen what he had done to other children in the past, and could see through his disarming façade. And in the end their dreams of free treats turned into the nightmare of being captured by the Child Catcher and enslaved to his will.

May we learn the lesson from those who have gone before us in other nations around the world. May we recognize that just as the “People’s Republic of China” is neither the people’s nor a republic, so can other democratic-sounding terms be plastered on an ideology that is the furthest thing from what they portray. And most importantly, may we not be deceived into giving up our freedom and our resources for the empty promise of “All free today!”