Socialism

Discuss.

I'm not a socialist, so don't really have a clue about it.

I have however had Rage Against The Machine and Rise Against lyrics enter into my head for about 3 hours each weekday during my commutes for the past month.

Would socialism work? I'm not poor, have a few nice expensive possessions, but I'm starting to see the appeal of anti-capitalism, no rat race, no oppressed poor. I don't think it's going to happen though cos I'm cynical and therefore won't do anything about it...

Have I been brainwashed by my music?

P.S. I love you all.

Maybe I'm a hippy?

[Biker Biggles]

I prefere Anarchy but I got chucked out for not obeying the rules.

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

I prefere Anarchy but I got chucked out for not obeying the rules.

Aah, anarchism sounds more like it, no state as well.

Let's rebel, rebel and yell!*

*Rage against the Machine lyric

Someone has to be in control of the money.

You can leave it in the hands of the private sector who, admittedly, may have made a few mistakes lately, but that's after many many years of growth from which everyone has benefited.

Or you can leave it in the hands of the government, who unlike the private sector have no long term vested interests, only the next election. They're also not affected by market forces so haven't got any commercial incentives to spend the money they have wisely - especially if they have lots of it. Generally the best way to make the government spend money as efficiently as possible is to give them as little as possible.

That said, paying as little tax as possible for the sake of it isn't very wise either. As much as I dislike giving my money to idiot politicians, I think the NHS is a good idea, for example. As always I think there's a happy medium somewhere - I think we probably had it right, right before Brown when nuts and spent everything.

I dont know much about politics but I do feel that there is an unhealthy gap between obscenely rich and poor.

[Ruffy]

Socialism is fine in theory: Equality in everything.

Unfortunately, human nature is inherently selfish and some always want to be more equal than others!

national socialism??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism

[Sid Squid]

No. It never has and it never will.

I'm a personal communist and a political realist*. I can understand the strengths and weaknesses of any given individual of my acquaintance, these are accepted much in the manner of Marx's, (much twisted), words when he said something like; "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". On a personal level this may be accommodated, try to extrapolate that to even a few thousand people and it falls right on it's botty, there is no way a functioning society can ever hope to exist for any serious timescale with the hand wringing hopes of socialism on a large scale as a social and political system. I can and do trust my friends and acquaintances to hold up their end of our social contract, (not meaning that in an exactly Hobbesian way), I know full well that not only can I not trust many persons to act in a similarly responsible manner, but that I can be utterly assured they won't.

* I'm generally to be considered as slightly to the right of Genghis Kahn.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Someone has to be in control of the money.
....you can leave it in the hands of the government, who unlike the private sector have no long term vested interests, only the next election. They're also not affected by market forces so haven't got any commercial incentives to spend the money they have wisely - especially if they have lots of it. Generally the best way to make the government spend money as efficiently as possible is to give them as little as possible.

Maybe if we had a government that stayed for the foreseeable future then maybe that'll be better. They would then spend more on improving the country infrastructure and we wouldn't have a change of policy every 4 years or whenever. But then it'll probably be a dictatorship and that'll be bad.

I, myself, am apathetic about governments and political parties. They're all the same, so there's no point voting and having no government is asking for trouble.

Libertarian socialism sounds good.*


*It'll never work though!

Some will always be more equal than others...they can run faster, be considered better looking, more intellegent etc.

I don't think it can ever work.


...and Rage Against The Machine are about as rebelious and anti-establishment as The Spice Girls.