Economic Model of the Sikhs
People have not suddenly stopped following religion or traditional values or become evil. Nor is there any shortage of humanity today. It is adoption of a bad economic model that has destroyed people’s lives and twisted their psyche. People are zombified by our economic (and political system). This is root cause of almost all of our problems. Youthanasia is used to describe future of our youth. Study of economic (and political) model is very important for our prosperity, freedom, and sanity.
It is a common fallacy that the Economic Model of the Sikhs cannot be mapped onto conventional economic models like Capitalism or Socialism. It is said that it has elements of Capitalism and Socialism. Sikh economists go into a spiritual dimension without addressing the practical aspects. They have a simplistic naïve view that people should ‘just do honest work’ (kirat karo).
An Economic (and Political) model defines people’s relationship with the government including the level of interference of the government in the economy and people’s lives. The Economic (and Political) Model of the Sikhs is Libertarian Capitalism.
What is Libertarian Capitalism?
- Core principles are respect for property rights and non-coercion. Property includes capital, land etc. Non-coercion means not using force for governance
- Focuses on individual liberty and personal freedom.
- Economic model which has least government intervention in the economy.
- Does not mean no governance and anarchy
- No income tax or property tax as it is not voluntary. Voluntary taxes on consumption only. A small government can be funded by tariSs and taxes on consumption only as America was before 1913 when there was no income
- Government role should be limited to what cannot be done by the private sector – border control, army, drafting laws (legislature), courts, and law enforcement.
Roads, Schools, & Hospitals
Who will build roads, bridges, and infrastructure? Who will run schools and hospitals? Free Market does a better job of capital allocation and efficiently providing products and services than the best government bureaucrats. Government infrastructure projects exist because politicians and bureaucrats need to reward those who keep them in power. There is no economic justification for it. This is why infrastructure is constantly ‘under construction’ in the third world.
America’s broken schools, healthcare, and infrastructure is the result of over financialization and government involvement. America needs less government, not more government involvement.
Sectors of healthcare in USA where there is no government involvement such as laser eye surgery and cosmetic surgery, tend to see falling prices and higher quality
Social Security model of the Sikhs
Social Security provides support for those who cannot sustain themselves for various reasons. It supports disabled, those who fall on hard times, the chronic sick etc. It is a safety net.
Sikhs do not believe in Welfare State. Sikhs have their own private, nongovernment, community funded Social Security model based around the Gurdwara. It is not Welfare State. It is not charity. Key is no government involvement. It is not a State model or a government program. It is private social security funded by the community using their own private money.
This is a working model in tens of thousands of Sikh Gurdwaras all over the World. It is more efficient and inclusive than anything government does.
The invisible hand, and the visible hand
Libertarianism does not mean no government, or anarchy. There is need for both the free market, as well as good governance and less/small governance provided by well-trained people.
Plato called them epistocrats. Chinese had Mandarins. Sikh Gurus created the Khalsa. It is governance by trained experts without political interference.
Marxist infiltration of Sikhs via academia
Sikh values are being falsely equated with Socialism and Marxism.
The origin of this false association of Sikhi and Socialism has its origins in 1970s to 1990s in Punjab and India when Sikh academics studied in Indian Universities funded by Soviet Union. Many senior and retired faculty today who studied and did PhD’s in that period were indoctrinated in Marxist ideas.
Sikhs and Punjab have not changed much in 40 years. Marxist academics unknowingly serve Indian State which wants people to ask for more government interference in people’s lives. It gives government, bureaucrats, and politicians more power. They can justify more interference, more control, and more taxes. Governments love doing this. People unknowingly ask for their own enslavement.
Sikh academia, intellectuals and bureaucrats can only think in terms of Marxist solutions big government, more government interference, big government programs, new government legislation etc. Their solution to every government failure is more government intervention (ਸਰਕਾਰ ਕੁਝ ਕਰੇ).
Marxist mindset has extremely negative eSect on Sikhs and Punjab. Punjab’s problems do not get solved. They get worse. Academia, bureaucrats, media, and the public ask for more government interference that made things bad in the first place. The result is a downward spiral that we see in Punjab
Just saying you want ‘prosperity-for-all’ is irrelevant. Everyone says that. Sikh philosophy of Sarbat-da-bhala (prosperity-for-all) does not mean Socialism. There is nothing in common.
The Wealth Pump of Socialism and Communism
Governments all over the world today loot the productive to pay oligarchs and bankers. The masses only get a few scraps. Small local businesses get the blame for the ‘ills of Capitalism. Prof. Peter Turchin calls it the ‘Wealth Pump.
Socialism (and Communism) is a government run ‘Wealth Pump from the productive middle class to the oligarchs and bankers. More the Socialism, more the Wealth Pump. This is the intended and un-stated purpose of Socialism. Socialism as a Wealth Pump eliminates the middle-class and increases inequality. Shrinking Middle Class is no coincidence. Capitalism doesn’t exist today, but it gets the blame.
Marx wrote that capitalists will sell the rope to hang them. What actually happened is that, “Western capitalists sold the Bolsheviks the rope not with which to hang them, but to hang millions of Russians”, writes Moscow Times. That rope is Socialism/Communism. Bolsheviks in October 1917 revolution transferred $35 Billion worth of Gold from Russia to the West.
Government
Programs lead to Government Pogroms
Friedrich Hayek shared Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974. His book ‘Road to Serfdom’ was published in 1944 at the height of Fascism and Nazism. The core message of the book is that socialist policies such as central planning and big government lead to Fascism and Nazism. Fascism is an outcome of Socialism. Yet, the world increasingly demands Socialism.
Pogroms are planned violent attacks by the government against an ethnic group. Government programs lead to government pogroms. Socialism leads to Fascism.
People live in the false hope that the State willextract from someone else, not them. “When the State does everything for you, it will soon take everything from you.” (Margaret Thatcher) As the World becomes more socialist, the government becomes more extractive, tyrannical, and fascist to run those Socialist government programs. Minorities are prime targets for exploitation when a government needs to extract money from the public.
Pogroms in Russia against the Russian minority Jews, Yellow-Star houses to mark the Jews in Hungary, and Sustained Sikh Ghallughara (Genocide) from 1984-1998 are examples of Government pogroms. A small government that needs less and has severe restrictions on its role is less likely to use its monopoly of violence against the minorities.
Conclusion
Centuries of persecution and repression of Sikhs by governments of the time has indoctrinated their intellectuals, twisted their psyche, and ‘damaged their DNA’ (common anecdote amongst the Sikhs). Sikhs today subconsciously want freedom from repression, and security of their property, land, and water. But they ask for it from the government (ਸਰਕਾਰ ਕੁਝ ਕਰੇ).
Asking the government for prosperity and freedom is like asking the Mafia for law and order. Socialism (and Communism) is a government run ‘Wealth Pump from the productive middle class to the Oligarchs and bankers. Socialism, Communism, and Marxism put the public on a ‘Road to Serfdom.
“In any case, communism is the most destructive doctrine created by humansin many centuries, and it still rules over a large part of humanity in the 21st century.”
– (Peter J. Birch, 2025)
Libertarian Capitalism is a well-defined macro-economic model for how to run the economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure etc. Only Libertarian Capitalism with its respect for property rights, less government interference, and no repression is compatible with Sikh vision of Halimi Raj (benevolent rule).
Avneet Singh
Managing Editor, Crossroads Journal
avneet@crossroadsjournal.org
