1. Who here considers themselves to be a Socialist, or strongly leaning toward it? 2. What are the core beliefs of socialism, and what are it's primary benefits / drawbacks? 3. What's it's historical track-record of success? 4. Should America be a socialist society, and if so, what would that look like?
I consider myself to be in that realm, but not in the demonized red scare sense of the word that people have merged with totalitarian states or sweeping nationalization of property. 2. Context is everything. For me, is that we should take care of one another not prey on one another, work towards the common good, and a better future than we had left to us. I'm not a spokesperson. There is no manual. Generally people try to paint any mention of socialism into a marxist or maoist corner. That's simply not accurate. 3. Well, the major tenents of many belief systems are socialist. It seems people tend to ignore them so i guess that's a black mark. Otherwise, any public work is a socialist one. I'd argue all of democracy is based off of the concepts that fall under socialism. Their successes and failures are the same. 4. America is a socialist country. It was the moment a democracy began providing for the common defense. It doubled down on this notion with a national currency and the ability to form binding treaties. The interstates are socialist. The utilities are socialist. Property taxes are socialist. Public education is socialist. The University of Tennessee with it's Hope Scholarship is socialist. Abraham Lincoln was a socialist. JFK was a socialist.
1. I consider myself to be in that realm, but not in the demonized red scare sense of the word that people have merged with totalitarian states or sweeping nationalization of property. 2. Context is everything. For me, is that we should take care of one another not prey on one another, work towards the common good, and a better future than we had left to us. I'm not a spokesperson. There is no manual. Generally people try to paint any mention of socialism into a marxist or maoist corner. That's simply not accurate. 3. Well, the major tenents of many belief systems are socialist. It seems people tend to ignore them so i guess that's a black mark. Otherwise, any public work is a socialist one. I'd argue all of democracy is based off of the concepts that fall under socialism. Their successes and failures are the same. 4. America is a socialist country. It was the moment a democracy began providing for the common defense. It doubled down on this notion with a national currency and the ability to form binding treaties. The interstates are socialist. The utilities are socialist. Property taxes are socialist. Public education is socialist. The University of Tennessee with it's Hope Scholarship is socialist. Abraham Lincoln was a socialist. JFK was a socialist.
2a. Humans share resources. 2b. This whole idea of sharing takes competition out of the equation. Competition is the best motivating agent for human beings. Period. If I'm wrong about that, let me know. Humans are inherently lazy, and in the absence of an external internal-fire-stoker pushing us out of that natural staute, we aren't merely inherently lazy, but are just simply lazy. And that's when hte whores come in. At least they are competitive. 3. Bad to quite bad. 4. No. It would resemble the many European nations that maybe aren't full blown socialism, but probably fall on that end of the capitalism continuum. Which sucks. Like, next think you know, you've got Mcdonald's staying open to 6pm. I don't want to live in a world where Mcdonald's closes at 6pm.
Yes. Also, sharing doesn't necessarily take competition out of the equation. Competition can be external. your (4) is seemingly stating that capitalism and socialism are intrinsically separate categories. And yet here the entire western world has been functioning as socialist democracies within a capitalist economy. How is this?
1. Who here considers themselves to be a Socialist, or strongly leaning toward it? Yes 2. What are the core beliefs of socialism, and what are it's primary benefits / drawbacks? Utopia via mutual cooperation Elimination of a monetary system. Greed 3. What's it's historical track-record of success? It's never been tried. 4. Should America be a socialist society, and if so, what would that look like? Yes, Roddenberry's vision of the Federation of Planets.
Maybe you should have a laying of cards on the table. I think some folks get irritated because they feel you are a chameleon on some things.