Every nation has a mix of socialism and capitalism. It's never 100% one or the other. As soon as you raise tax revenue to act for the greater good, you are moving in a socialist direction. And sometimes people think it's worth it to sacrifice a little personal liberty for the greater good. And of course, people differ on where that point…
Every nation has a mix of socialism and capitalism. It's never 100% one or the other. As soon as you raise tax revenue to act for the greater good, you are moving in a socialist direction. And sometimes people think it's worth it to sacrifice a little personal liberty for the greater good. And of course, people differ on where that point is, and they vote based on their prefernces. Welcome to reality in a multi-cultural democracy.
I see democratic socialism (European-style socialism) as very different from Communism and Marxism.
The difference I care most about is the distinction between democracy on one hand and authoritarianism and totalitarianism on the other. And that's why I fear the right more than the left in America. Recent polling shows that a large number of Republicans believe that it might be time to violently overthrow the government. You don't see anywhere close to those numbers among Democrats. That means they are not committed to democracy.
In a true democracy, the people will decide how much socialism they want, and when it gets to be too much, they will dial it back. A lot of countries in Europe have dialed back their socialism in favor of individual freedom. I don't have a problem with that if that's what they want. What concerns me is that we have free and fair elections.
Every nation has a mix of socialism and capitalism. It's never 100% one or the other. As soon as you raise tax revenue to act for the greater good, you are moving in a socialist direction. And sometimes people think it's worth it to sacrifice a little personal liberty for the greater good. And of course, people differ on where that point is, and they vote based on their prefernces. Welcome to reality in a multi-cultural democracy.
I see democratic socialism (European-style socialism) as very different from Communism and Marxism.
The difference I care most about is the distinction between democracy on one hand and authoritarianism and totalitarianism on the other. And that's why I fear the right more than the left in America. Recent polling shows that a large number of Republicans believe that it might be time to violently overthrow the government. You don't see anywhere close to those numbers among Democrats. That means they are not committed to democracy.
In a true democracy, the people will decide how much socialism they want, and when it gets to be too much, they will dial it back. A lot of countries in Europe have dialed back their socialism in favor of individual freedom. I don't have a problem with that if that's what they want. What concerns me is that we have free and fair elections.
It's a democratic republic. Democracy simply means that leaders are elected by the people.