Question of definition: Which of these do you consider socialism?
Admittedly US-centric list (with a few ringers)[ul][li]Labor unions[]Anarcho-syndicalists[]Minimum wage laws[]Prevailing wage laws[]Living wage laws[]Employee ownership[]Collectivization[]Cooperation[]Co-Ops[]Coöperation[]Communitarianism[]Occupational Safety & Health Act/Administration[]Americans with Disabilities Act[]Civil Rights Act of 1964[]Title IX[]Gay marriage[]Feminism[]Public schools[]Teacher’s unions[]Public employee unions[]Unionized military[]Unionized police[]Public works[]Veterans’ Administration[]The military itself[]Military pork[/li][li]Hot Monkey Love[]Government funding of privately owned sports teams[]Bank bailouts[]Government buying banks outright[]TARP specifically[/li][]Police Forces[]Fire Departments[]Securities & Exchange Commission[]Universal Health Care[]Government ownership of hospitals[]Federal highway spending[]Other infrastructure spending[]Class warfare[]Class struggle[]Political violence[]Extermination of ethnic minorities[]Racism[]Nationalism[]Nazionalsozialismus[]Christianity[]Judaism[]The modern state of Israel[]Saudi Arabia’s use of oil wealth for the advancement of the kingdom[]Countries with oil/gas fields nationalizing fields/oil companies[]Alaska’s payment of funds from oil sales to residents[]Indian reservations[]Recognition of Indian nations as “nations”[]Gore Vidal[]The dole[]Unemployment benefits[]Aid to Families with Dependent Children[]Government-funded health care for children[]Government-funded health care for the poor[]Government-funded health care for the aged[]Government-funded health care for anybody[]Government-funded health care for everybody[]Goth kids[]Political correctness[]The switchover to digital TV[]Public Television[]Federal Communications Commission[]Centers for Disease Control[]Food & Drug Administration[]Postal Service[]Free needles for junkies[]Talking funny[]Proportional Representation[]Parliamentary government[]Voting Democrat[]Democracy[]Republicanism[]Equality[]Fraternity[]Tribal communism in primitive societies[]Liberty[]Conformity[]Complexity[]Security[]Change[]StupidityPerversity[/ul]
I explain American Labor Unions to Spaniards as “subcontractors with a very big baseball bat.” There’s very little relationship between your Labor Unions and our Sindicatos.
If I ever join a Sindicato it will be CNT, simply because I find the notion of an Anarchist organization to be a hilarious oxymoron.
Public schools, fire departments, police departments, federal highway spending, other infrastructure spending, aid to those who have fallen on hard times, government sponsored health care, libraries, government funded grants and scholarships, government-sponsored employment programs during recessions and depressions.
I think socialism gets a bad rap and we’ve had it and benefited by it all along.
I don’t think you can say socialism is defined by any one of these thingss. Maybe a combination can come close to what is the essential definition: means of production being in the control of ‘the people’ (i.e. state).
Conservatives are those who want you to help yourself (while helping themselves); Socialists are those who want to help you (while helping themselves).
Why do you have quotation marks around “the people” as if you don’t quite mean it?
How does this distinguish socialism from communism? Some socialism seems to work well in some countries (Denmark, for example). Communism doesn’t seem to produce so many happy people.
What socialist countries (as opposed to communist) seem to be oppressed and bitter?
If the OP considers this off-topic, please forgive and set us back on course.
It is about 4:30 in the morning. I’m so sleepy that I just tried to turn the page on my monitor screen. Seriously. Goodnight.
