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Socialism has always been an economic system where the ownership of means of production is not private, as in capitalism, but public or governmental. Read the classics: Marx, Engels or Lenin
I think you should read some of the "classics," too.
Marx did not call for dictatorship by private capitalists (i.e. capitalism) to be replaced by dictatorship by a state bureaucracy (Stalinism). He called for an expansion of political democracy into the economic realm. That's what socialism really is--a system of democratic control of the economy. Exactly how that would work remains unclear, as it has never really been tried. But it is certainly not some sinister, evil concept.
Schools, police, fire fighting all have privatized examples, all of which are run more efficiently and profitably than their public counterparts. Gas, water and electric are actually private companies with government protected monopolies over that service, which is a throwback to the Great Depression, the theory of which is shattered by looking at what removing government monopoly protection has done for telecomm.
The confused topic here is not about economic systems, since ours is neither capitalist nor socialist, it is cronyist, and always has been. The way cronyism works is that you are mostly capitalist until either you become really profitable and the political class comes demanding tribute or you begin biting into the market share of someone else who has already paid protection money. Our economic system is most aptly labeled "organized crime with the government as mob boss."
The services that everyone thinks are a product of the economic system are not. They are simply goods and services, and our country, like many others, forces the cost of those goods and services onto the taxpayers is a wealth redistribution effort. Over time, it became politically advantageous to promise to provide for either reduced cost or free that which "rich people" were buying on their own in the private sector.
In Rothbard's "Libertarian Manifesto" he discusses this at length, how the government begins providing a good or service that was previously a private good. In his example he uses shoes, which is a good or service we all buy on our now. Imagine if the government began providing shoes to the very poor, then the sorta poor, then the lower class, then etc etc. Eventually, we end up in an America where nobody can even remeber when Americans bought their own shoes, and belief in the souls that the only POSSIBLE way one can have shoes on their feet is via the good graces of government.
That's the pattern by which all these "government must provide" goods and services we currently depend on government for came to be entrenched in the public's mind as something only the government can do. Like roads, which is a laugh. The government simply hires a private contractor (most of the time) and pays them to do whatever construction or repair. Got that? It's a private company, but being hired by the government. The only thing that would change with getting government out of the road business is the length of argument between neighbors on how long/wide/etc a road should be, and who is actually going to do the work. But private citizens can get together and fund a road's construction/repair/improvement, they do it now, just with a government middle man who bloats the cost and reduces the efficiency of the process.
So what would America look like if government wasn't doing all these things with taxpayer money? Taxpayers would be doing with their own money, and the poorest among us would actually be poor, not welfare nobility. People do a few hundred things per day/week/month that have profound impact on their own survival, all without government help. They purchase all manner of goods and services, make all sorts of individual decisions, and do all sorts of things totally independent of the government, even the poorest people. Take government out of more things, then private citizens will simply do more things on their own than they do right now. They'd be MORE INVOLVED IN THEIR OWN LIVES, which I realize is frightening and horrifying to some of you, but that's what would change.
We do need government, just nowhere near as much as we currently have. We'd all do just fine with considerably less. Yes, even poor people. Capitalism requires a government to secure, protect and defend property and contract rights. It won't function properly wihtout it. But that doesn't mean government should bloat to the point where it is making those contracts, buying that property and picking winners and losers. It should be neutral like Lady justice, acting when rights violations occur and enforcement of law is required. In other words, it should be reactive much more than proactive.
Another person with campaign pamphlet knowledge of the Middle Ages of Europe.
In the feudal Middle Ages, taxes were considered oppressive at 15% and above 15% the nobles were begging for armed revolt or at least for the serfs to vacate their lands and leave it untended.
The Early Middle Ages, which is what most people who say "Dark Ages" are referring to, was actually a great time to be alive, even for peasants. Feel free to research "myths about the middle/dark ages" and do some research. Particularly pay attention to the concept of "lex mercatoria" to see just how easily the free market can indeed function and flourish absent intervention from state/national government. Yeah, you can thank the "Dark" ages for common law and lex mercatoria...how awful.
No decent society has no socialism. And no decent society has no capitalism.
You have to have a mix of both. Even European countries such as France and England that many liberals like to claim are socialist utopias are not so, they are in fact Capitalism based like we are, they have a free market where people pursue profit, the buying and selling and trading of goods and services. They just have more socialism than we do. They still are not socialist countries.
Without any socialism we would be living in Social Darwinism, dog eat dog. Without any capitalism we would be living like North Korea, China, or any other socialist/communist country (one becomes the other), and we all know how bad those places are.
One of the biggest problems with Socialism is it removes, or tries to remove, insecurity. This is one of FDR's main points about Social Security. He promised to "remove the insecurity of old age". and was a huge mistake. People were lulled into a false sense of security that their Social Security would pay for their old age requirements...which is does not.
People work harder if they feel insecure and make smarter decisions with their education, jobs, spending etc....
and that is exactly what the liberals are pushing..as they destroy the middleclass
the liberal dream...two classes...the poor serfs surviving on the scraps of welfare for votes, and the liberal elite masters controlling the masses of poor welfare serfs
Don't confuse services with private industry in your attempts at minimizing socialism.
Services that are for governing purposes and are paid for by the government (via citizens) are different than the government owning (in full or part) the manufacturing and sale of products from private companies.
Doctors (for example) who want to be self sustaining should not have the government forcibly in their pocket books and balance sheets.
This is a very great point. It needs to be reposted.
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