Disciplined Pluralism

The idea of disciplined pluralism is the difference between centralized and decentralized decision-making as it pertains to the economy (i.e. the government). To put in another way, communist and socialist country’s economies exist under monoism where the government dictates the terms and conditions of markets. In United States and other market economies, the market largely determines what is good for the market by exploring possibilities and cultivating innovation with profit motive. This may seem counterintuitive, the idea that markets operate at their optimal efficiency when left alone and evolve naturally, but it is the essential requirement of a market economy. In a market economy, a process of perpetual experimentation by entrepreneurs exists, where most experiments fail and are terminated, but the very few that succeed are rapidly imitated. The reason that centralized systems cannot compete is that innovation cannot be mandated, rather entrepreneurs must have a motive for exploration and markets must be able to meet the demands of the customer. State-controlled economies are incapable of dictating or maintaining this sort of framework. A prime example of how state-controlled economies are dangerous and destined to fail can be seen in China’s Great Leap Forward.
In the year 1958, Chairman Mao Zedong initiated a nationwide campaign called “The Great Leap Forward”, in an effort to rapidly transition China’s economy from agrarian to industrial. The goal of this effort was for China to not only catch up with, but also exceed the United States in industrial output in the next 15 years through peaceful competition, making China an industrial equal to countries in the West. The way to do this, as Chairman Mao saw it, was through mass industrialization and collectivism. Mao mobilized the entire country, working day and night with the promise of a better future. One of the first mandates from the Chairman was for communes to produce as much steel as