For similar reasons, under a system of total state economic control there can exist no true freedom to pursue ends that human beings may regard as "higher" or "spiritual," e. g., freedom of religion. Even spiritual pursuits, after all, require the allocation of earthly resources.

Any notion of true "democratic socialism" must be quickly abandoned for the same reason. Since election campaigns clearly require the allocation of scarce resources, the planners would have to determine which candidates were deserving of those resources and in what proportions. (In this regard, the current impetus toward public control of political campaign spending in the United States is an especially ominous development.) Implicitly, therefore, the ruling socialist authorities would control the outcome of any election, even if a meaningful election could be held in the absence of a free press and of freedom of speech. In short, socialism is fundamentally incompatible with liberalism, including even the trappings of popular government. We will therefore assume in the remainder of this analysis that the ideals of socialism are to be implemented by a dictatorship, even if that dictatorship has benevolent intentions.