by Sectori
It's an unfortunate trend that I have observed, in addition to the conflation of socialism with communism, that socialism is similarly combined with dictatorship. There are two important points that those who rail against tend to conveniently forget when this issue comes up.
Firstly, the United States is not by any stretch of the imagination purely capitalist. Socialism just means direct government funding of some service, industry, etc., often but not always accompanied by a government monopoly on that same service. So, United States institutions that qualify as socialized: the postal service, public schools, public libraries, the military, to name only a few. I stress the military. That is my response to those who say the government can't be trusted to manage nationalized industries: the military is a nationalized industry, and could we imagine if it were not?
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Secondly, when the term "socialism" comes up, the countries that are often mentioned include Cuba, East Germany, the Soviet Union (thus Lenin's picture above), the former Yugoslavia and other parts of Eastern Europe, and the like.
The countries that have successfully implemented socialist principles to various extents are conveniently forgotten. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. The United Kingdom. Canada. New Zealand and Australia. France. Ireland. The Netherlands. To name just a few. Every one of these states has, for example, a system of socialized medicine (the Netherlands' system, incidentally, is not altogether dissimilar form Obama's health care plan).
All of them are (or at least were until this current economic crisis, cf. Iceland) countries with strong economies, good human rights records, and good international standing. France, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Canada, the Netherlands, and the UK are all NATO members. Australia, New Zealand, and the United States have the ANZUS pact (although the United States and New Zealand are currently at odds over New Zealand's anti-nuclear restrictions). Ireland's economy has seen massive growth since it joined the EU, despite (better: without any visible effect from) implementing a national health service in 2005.
Just my random thoughts.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
What Happened to Socialism?
Labels: definitions, economy, politics, Sectori, socialism
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3 comments:
Nothing "happened" to socialism. Here in America, we have a socio-capitalist blend. We're not fully nationalized or privatized, but companies like Blackwater make us rethink. We have let the market run wild, which is something no socialist nation would do. However, we've also bought out AIG and several other big companies, something no "purely" capitalist nation would do. And yes, socialism is combined with dictatorship for the reason that pure socialism doesn't exist: it's either somewhat capitalist or somewhat facist. In the case of the Soviet Union and Tienanmen-age China, they were part facist. Modern China is moving towards (slightly) capitalist ideals, but hasn't loosened its grip on socialism.
Fascism is a political ideology, whereas capitalism and socialism are economic.
I agree with you, however, in that true socialism does not exist. We should examine it as a spectrum, with certain decisions being "more socialist" and certain ones being "more capitalist".
The idea is that we support what is morally right and best for the country. Ideology should not tell you what to believe. It should reflect what you believe.
Good point abput politics vs economics.
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