this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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European here.
This seems to mainly only be an issue in the US. Socialism = Communism = Enemy
If at all anything, the opposite seems to be the case here. We're looking at the US as a "this is how bad it will get if we let go" example
In addition: government programs that help everyone = helping black people = no.
I think this is the fundamental reason why the US never went to public/universal anything, be it healthcare, education, whatever.
Yep. We should have told the colonies of Georgia and Carolina to fuck off, and we'll get around to conquering them, after we kicked The King out of the other 11 colonies.
If one person had voted differently during The Continental Congress, we would have started abolishing slavery
Fascinating history.
Yeah y'all really don't want to end up like us. We're not the land of the free. The streets are most definitely not paved with gold. We're just a giant ponzi scheme.
Paved with gold? Lucky they're paved at all this time of year.
No kidding. Their "fix" every year is to either fill all the potholes with asphalt, which the spring rains promptly loosen and get kicked out, or a thin "repaving" layer, which gets destroyed by the summer monsoons. I'm convinced Caltrans is a jobs program for people that can't get a job otherwise, because those guys can't seem to get anything done correctly.
It's actually insane how many of our institutions are actually based on pyramid schemes. No wonder we all use it as the symbol for conspiracy because it is a huge portion of how anything runs in the US. Cover the costs by convincing more people to join in at a less beneficial or profitable step down the pyramid and hope someone else will be coming behind you for you to take from as well.
I have a pothole literally 2 feet wide and at least 10 inches deep on my street that our city just can't find the funds to fix...
Start a social media account for pics of the pothole. Keep tagging city officials in it. Call or email someone every time you're reminded that the pothole exists so they will be too. Make the city rue the day they gave Cave Johnson lem... Potholes.
If they won't do it some helpful citizen might end up reading something like https://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Pothole
Cries in Lindner
Europe uses the word socialism differently. It’s a difference in how the words are used and the time they are used. If we consider socialism shared responsibility, we have it America in many ways but we are hesitant to expand it. That’s because of our fear of large government power.
If we me socialism as the workers owning the means of production. Well no country does that. Normally it’s the government owning everything and the workers being abused such as the Soviet Union or Cuba. That’s the large governments Americans dislike.
Yeah, socialism isn't taxing the rich, it is or at least have always led to brutal dictatorships because the real one is just communism with extra steps.
Social-democracy on the other hand is wonder for the people (see Sweden etc) in real life.
I’m a conservative and read a wonderful article on why conservatives should be leading the charge to a social democracy like Sweden. It really changed my views on why we should be skippering certain endeavors. Just neither party here has really embraced the basic concept.
An example was national health care allowed people to be more entrepreneurial since that is a large risk to not have insurance here.
That's not being conservative my man.
That's not being conservative my man.
Then you don’t understand conservatism.
🍿
Well, French president and several of its ministers are saying that socialist left, or radical left, is extremist. So no, it's not an America problem. It's very much a Europe problem too.
*Unless Russia 🤑
Russia isn't socialist anymore. It's a fascist capitalist hellscape, which is why Republicans like it
The USSR collapsed several decades ago. Russia now is fascist, over a Capitalist economy.
There are elements of capitalism there, but I wouldn't call it a capitalist economy. Capitalism requires that private individuals own the means of production. But, in Russia does anybody outside Putin's inner circle really own anything?
Yes, absolutely. The Russian Federation is the direct result of a collapsing Socialist system in the hands of Capitalists, just because fewer and fewer people own things doesn't mean it isn't a direct result of Capitalization of the economy.
In fact that's the natural progression of a Capitalist economy
The USSR wasn't really socialist at its core, and the new Russia really isn't capitalist at its core.
In the former system, the theory was that the people / workers owned the means of production. The reality was that it was the leader and those close to him who really "owned" them in the sense that they had power over them. It was all about who you knew in that system. In a true socialist system, it should have been up to the people to make decisions, but in the USSR it was up to the party's elites, and the people just had to live with it.
In the current system, it's Putin and his close circle who own everything. While they allow capitalist type activities to happen, the capitalists don't really own anything. If they displease Putin anything they have can be taken away on a whim. If you stay on Putin's good side, or at least stay beneath his notice, you can operate as a capitalist. But, become too successful and you'll be reminded who's in charge.
Both true socialism and true capitalism require that the rule of law apply to everyone, even the leaders. If the leader can just ignore the laws and seize the "means of production" without facing consequences, it's authoritarianism, not capitalism or communism / socialism.
The USSR was a flawed form of Socialism, but was fundamentally Socialist. The majority of the economy was run by Worker Soviets, in a process called Soviet Democracy. The Politburo, ie the highest Soviet, had a massive amount of influence and power, but day to day decisions were made locally. I would agree, I don't think it was a particularly good form of Socialism, but I would still consider it Socialist.
Modern Russia is absolutely Capitalist at its core, that's the entire foundation of the Russian Federation. The Capitalists are the Oligarchs! The Inner Circle are Capitalists! just because it's a higher stage of Capitalism doesn't mean it ceases to be Capitalism.
Was the rule of law strong enough that decisions were being made by the people, or were they being made by authoritarians? Because if key decisions weren't being made by the people, it wasn't socialist.
The Oligarchs are feudalists, not capitalists.
Yes, it actually was. The Politburo had outsized power, but the local Soviets ran most things. Again, incredibly flawed, but still Socialist.
Oligarchs are not land owners that take a portion of what food is grown by the Russian people, the Oligarchs are Capitalists.
Oligarchs control the exploitation of Russia's natural resources. Can't get much more "land owner" than that.
Capitalists can do that as well, without being feudalists. You're tying an ancient peasant-aristocrat structure to modern Capitalism just to avoid acknowledging that Capitalism has failed Russia.
You're trying to pretend that an oligarchy / dictatorship has something to do with capitalism because you hate capitalism.
On the contrary, I'm acknowledging that Capitalist business owners have swelled and looted Russia very effectively.
Except it has nothing to do with capitalism.
It has everything to do with Capitalism. When the USSR collapsed and the Russian Federation came into place, Capitalists got much of the Capital, and are now the "oligarchs."
I think you missed the point