As Venezuela’s socialist economy has continued to spread greater poverty nationwide, food shortages have motivated President Nicolas Maduro to sign a new decree. This new decree requires “all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how” to work in the agricultural sector for up to 60 days. In other words, the government has just mandated forced labor. Oh, the socialist dream realized.

But, lest there be any opportunity for the political opposition to gain any ground, government officials have moved to ban political groups who are calling for a recall vote on Maduro. According to current Venezuelan law, the initial step in seeking a recall election can be initiated with 200,000 signatures. The opposition party, Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), turned in more than 1.8 million signatures, yet the current government has disqualified the signatures based on finding 11,000 that they claim belong to dead people. One can’t help but wonder if the dead were alive at the time of signing the petition only to have since died of starvation.

What Venezuela is proving once again is that no matter how well intentioned those who believe in socialism may be, it always creates bigger problems than it ever solves. Quite simply socialism was bankrupt from its inception. By its nature it destroys the rights of individuals — such as the freedom to seek employment according to one’s own interests and abilities. It destroys economic development, growth and creativity. What it inevitably produces is a class of ruling elites who reign over those in the lower class eventually turning them into slaves of the state.

So as the lower class in Venezuela continue to starve to death, the ruling class will seek to grab even more power, all the while blaming outside forces, like the United States, for the many problems their own ideals have directly created.