What does the US have to gain by other countries not being authoritarian?

[bytebuster]

Друзі, я тут трошки ганяю красно-коричневу нечисть і прошу вашої підтримки, коментарів та критики:

Запитання: What does the US have to gain by other countries not being authoritarian?

With the current situation in Venezuela, it seems like the US is once again weighing in against a leader that is textbook socialist or communist that is also a dictator. I understand the hardships that dictators in these situations often do and why, from a humanitarian point of view, we should want to hope for a free and capitalist Venezuela. However, I am wondering, from a USA first point of view, why we would want that. With socialism making countries less competitive on a world stage, wouldn’t that be good for our economy, due to the fact we are more competitive relative to them? Again this is not a point of view I take, but I would love to hear a USA-first philosophy that suggests we should intervene and spend money.

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Моя відповідь:

Being a Socialist state is not a crime by itself. There are plenty of countries in today's world that can be called more or less socialist: consider Nordic model, informally known as Swedish Socialism.

Dictatorships, on the other hand, tend to build Socialist or Communist economies because the Socialism assumes a bigger fraction of the nation's means of production and gross domestic product controlled and redistributed by the ruling regime. See, for example, Lenin: „The Dictatorship Of The Proletariat“ (1919).

Simply speaking, it is easier to rule over the poor than the rich; it easier to be a dictator if your economic system is a Communism.

The biggest concern is that dictatorships — Communist dictatorships — also commit other crimes against human rights and international law, which is seen intolerable by the US:

• the violation of own people's human rights;
• the sharp raise of the violent crime (induces the flow of refugees);
• the state's active role in production and transit of illegal drugs;
• acts of international terrorism;
• armed invasions to neighboring countries.

Note, all these problems are not local at all. They splash outside or even are targeted against other states. That's why these regimes pose a threat.

Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the United States?

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Now, straight to the question:

I am wondering, from a USA first point of view, why we would want that.

The US wants to eliminate direct threats to its national security. For example,
Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (H.R. 4587) says in its preamble (highlight mine):

To impose targeted sanctions on persons responsible for violations of human rights of antigovernment protesters in Venezuela, to strengthen civil society in Venezuela, and for other purposes.

Subsequently, the US President signed and issued a presidential order declaring Venezuela a threat to its national security. — Reuters.

Soon after that, the dictator has denounced the sanctions as the US' attempt to oppress his bright and shiny socialist economy:

“President Barack Obama ... has personally decided to take on the task of defeating my government and intervening in Venezuela to control it,” Maduro said in a televised address.

Someone who hears this speech may be confused into thinking that the US pursues Venezuela because it is Communist.

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Summary

Throughout the entire human history, the Communism has been used as a disguise for brutal dictatorships.

There are reasons why the dictatorships prefer being Communist states.

The US' goal is not to overthrow other countries' economic system of manual redistribution of its wealth; instead, the goal is to eliminate threats to the American national security and stop the violation of human rights.