For some bizarre reason, more and more Americans are embracing the failed economic and political ideology of democratic socialism. History teaches us that socialism, however it is dressed up, fails.

In the early decades of the modern state of Israel, many Israelis lived in kibbutzim, agrarian communities structured around shared property and radical egalitarianism. These communities operated under the utopian Marxist principle of “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” Over time, however, the ideal of shared economic rewards was undermined by the reality that some members of the kibbutzim could free ride on the efforts of those who worked harder and produced more. This weakened social cohesion and eventually pushed many communities toward a basic principle of free markets: Those who produce more should earn more. When economic incentives were introduced, productivity increased.