Socialism and Social Trust
David Strom 7:20 PM | May 27, 2026
One of the greatest ironies we see stemming from socialism is that, in the modern world, it is most popular as an idea in high-social-trust societies, and mostly among people who live in the highest social-trust strata.
Even in the old communist countries, it was the "intelligentsia" who were the most avid supporters of the socialist ideology, and you almost never meet a working-class socialist in a Western country.
The irony is this: nothing destroys social trust as fast as socialism does. There are low-trust societies that aren't socialist, of course, but there is no high-trust society that has been able to "transcend" capitalism, become socialist, and remain high-trust.
Even countries in Northern Europe, which Americans think of as socialist, really aren't. They do have substantial levels of social insurance, but most abandoned socialism because it sucks. These countries rank substantially higher on The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.
In a country like the United States, levels of social trust are a mixed bag, but are obviously declining as the rule of law erodes, more and more people are seen as freeloaders, and certain segments of our population feel free to commit crimes and promote social disorder.
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https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/05/27/socialism-and-social-trust-n3815342
