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Quote by: Chris the Chees ...People no longer understand quite what socialism really is, it is the complete control of the means of production by the masses, and nothing less. |
That's capitalism. Socialism is when
government controls the economy. You might claim that's not how socialism is ideally but this is a politcal forum and we're talking politics now, so we aren't talking about socialism as in some voluntary community endeavor, we're talking about government social programs and taxes and economic planning by a central authority that often doesn't take no as an answer and might even put you in prison if you disagree too strongly.
Despite the fact that some governments claim to represent "The People", this is far from true. Individuals represent themselves. Government represents a monopoly on force. It claims to speak for "The People", but how much of that is simply a salespitch? When you actually look at who's talking, it's generally a single person or a small group. I recognize most people desire a collective way to defend themselves and their interests, and that's fine but that's a far cry from telling you what doctor you can see, and claiming a right to be able to take your property simply because they can make a profit off it, or taking your money ostensibly in order to save for your retirement and then claim they've spent it all and they might not be able to pay you much of anything back or tell you who you can marry, or what you can sell, how long you can work and how much you can charge for something etc. etc. etc.
Capitalism is when everyone gets to "vote" in the economy with their own resources without estimeed leaders or polls taken in determining where your efforts should be directed. Noone has a right to invade or economically enslave you simply because they claim they're doing it in your best interest.
Communism claims to protect workers, whereas it does the
exact opposite. Notice how only the 'means of production' is taken nuder communism? That's because noone wants to be responsible for things that aren't productive. In other words, communism is about stealing everyones wealth - sure, you get some back, but that's simply because noone would tolerate having most everything taken from them and get virtually nothing back.
Socialism is very similar to communism. Socialism controls the economy. Communism, the means of production. The economy
is the means of production for most all intents and purposes. The reality is that both socialism and communism never seem to stop there either - they get into the business of teaching your children, taking/taxing your property and often times even telling you what you can or can't say (and to an extent even think).
So there might be a few differences between socialism and communism but in the extreme they are identical and in reality they are destructive. How much fun is Europe having economically now? Now compare this to the growth of many asian countries that have relatively small/lax governments and you'll find that economic prosperity isn't something that a few beaurocrats can plan out in a top down fashion, it comes from the multitude of individuals doing their day-to-day activities to improve their lives that results in prosperity for everyone. Also, most wars and other large scale conflicts aren't inspire the wishes of the average Joe Schmoe wanting to pick up a gun and head off somewhere in the world, they're usually caused by large controlling social institutions whose leader(s) decide it would be a fun thing to start a war.
I probably sound more opposed to a lot of social institutions than I truly am but it's only because the mentality of too many people feel we need even more of these and they should be even more involved in our personal lives. Somehow it seems I'm usually the one getting the short end of the stick in these things too, so yes, it kind of pisses me off after a while when I heard people try to talk about how glorious things are (for other people) because of these institutions - meanwhile I don't see much of any real evidence that these claims are true and in fact believe we'd be better off without so many coercive social institutions around.