I’ll be very honest. I’m extremely active in politics and been so for around 2 decades. My family navigated the political spectrum right and are now pretty progressive-left by US calibration. By European I’m most closely aligned with Social Democrats and the Nordic Model.
Where I’m being honest is that I don’t think socialism or Democratic socialism is well defined, and I don’t think even the left does a good job conveying consistency on this. It certainly doesn’t help that there are far-right astroturfers trying to wedge-drive the issue and complicate it.
For instance, if Bernie Sanders pitched himself as a Social Democrat as opposed to a Democratic Socialist, which is precisely what his policy proposals are in reality, then that would be SO much easier to convey to the less informed, apathetic voters of this country.
That is, a truly mixed economy with strongly regulated markets in favor of the consumer, environment, and promoting small-business competition while curving corporate conglomerates too big to fail. One where collective bargaining / unions are strong; where Democracy is decoupled and inoculated from private money with strong campaign finance and election laws. Where select industries like healthcare are nationalized in the hands of the people via Democratic institutions, but there is still some market capitalism and profit to be had to assume risk and investment. Where the rich are taxed heavily and social safety nets strong for those to get back on their feet.
It doesn’t help that big D Dems work against this at every turn…
The concept of socialism is not actually hard to define, but it is extremely broad and as a term can describe a lot of distinct but highly related ideas which can make it easy to both misrepresent and misunderstand. One of the defining characteristics of capitalism is that ownership of businesses is determined purely by holding transferrable title which entitle the bearer to a certain proportion of the profits of the business. Socialism on the other hand can describe
An equity model of any particular business where ownership of the business is determined specifically by a particular kind of relationship to the business (think of cooperative businesses, fan-owned sports teams, or even state-owned enterprise)
An economic system that is primarily comprised of such institutions
Any normative philosophy that proposes that certain problems associated with capitalism could be resolved by building some kind of socialist economy
but there is still some market capitalism and profit to be had to assume risk and investment
When socialism assumes the risk, it’s because that product serves s need in a society. It would seem outside of that (legitimate need), it’s a want that drives mindless and destructive consumerism, from my perspective. I can’t think of any product or service outside that scope, but I’m listening.
I’ll be very honest. I’m extremely active in politics and been so for around 2 decades. My family navigated the political spectrum right and are now pretty progressive-left by US calibration. By European I’m most closely aligned with Social Democrats and the Nordic Model.
Where I’m being honest is that I don’t think socialism or Democratic socialism is well defined, and I don’t think even the left does a good job conveying consistency on this. It certainly doesn’t help that there are far-right astroturfers trying to wedge-drive the issue and complicate it.
For instance, if Bernie Sanders pitched himself as a Social Democrat as opposed to a Democratic Socialist, which is precisely what his policy proposals are in reality, then that would be SO much easier to convey to the less informed, apathetic voters of this country.
That is, a truly mixed economy with strongly regulated markets in favor of the consumer, environment, and promoting small-business competition while curving corporate conglomerates too big to fail. One where collective bargaining / unions are strong; where Democracy is decoupled and inoculated from private money with strong campaign finance and election laws. Where select industries like healthcare are nationalized in the hands of the people via Democratic institutions, but there is still some market capitalism and profit to be had to assume risk and investment. Where the rich are taxed heavily and social safety nets strong for those to get back on their feet.
It doesn’t help that big D Dems work against this at every turn…
The concept of socialism is not actually hard to define, but it is extremely broad and as a term can describe a lot of distinct but highly related ideas which can make it easy to both misrepresent and misunderstand. One of the defining characteristics of capitalism is that ownership of businesses is determined purely by holding transferrable title which entitle the bearer to a certain proportion of the profits of the business. Socialism on the other hand can describe
When socialism assumes the risk, it’s because that product serves s need in a society. It would seem outside of that (legitimate need), it’s a want that drives mindless and destructive consumerism, from my perspective. I can’t think of any product or service outside that scope, but I’m listening.