Throughout my education in my History/Social Studies/Government classes my teachers would never fully explore socialism. It was always brushed aside. The teachers would always say things like, “it is a really good system but it never works”, or sometimes just, “it never works”. Why was it always painted so badly. I reject the notion that it is a failed system based simply on the examples (however numerous they may be) of its failure. Simply saying, “the USSR failed, socialism is a failure”, is a cop out excuse at best. Fail once trying to do a good thing and just give up? When has that been the acceptable practice?
side note:
Many people use the term “socialist utopia” as if it’s a bad thing. Look up what a utopia is and you’ll find the ideal system. I’d live in a Socialist, Democratic, Feudal, Theocratic, even an Anarchic society if it was a utopia. Slinging around the term utopia as an insult is the equivalent to making it rain, dollar bills don’t hurt that much if you use them to line your pockets.
back to my rant…
Rejecting socialism while standing on a democratic/capitalistic platform is hypocritical. A democratic shit stinks as bad (if not worse) than a socialist shit, as no shit smells like roses. For every negative you can find in socialism there are many more negatives in capitalism. The main difference between the two is how it deals with equality. The problems that arise in a socialist system are found in its abuse and corruption, while a capitalistic system encourages inequality, class struggle, and rivalry.
I find it hard to find the value of a capitalistic system that I continually find problems with. One benefit that many people point out is that capitalism drives ingenuity and productivity. In a capitalist system costs are driven down and quality rises as companies vie for a slice of the consumer. This very framework continually builds rival companies setting up shop across the street from one another selling the same merchandise. Choice is a good thing, ingenuity is a good thing, efficiency is a good thing, redundancy is not. I can buy my groceries at a Stop & Shop or I could buy them at a Shaws. Think of all the redundant tasks being performed simply because of the rivalries. While the companies search for efficiency in their own operation to outperform one another, think of how much more efficient it would be if there was just one grocery store. Also think of the cost of efficiency. Stores like Wal-Mart (for a look at Wal-Mart: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3836296181471292925) have built there whole business on cost reduction. The result is lower pay and benefits for individuals, jobs being shipped overseas which leads to the destruction of the American economy, and cheaper/inferior/less regulated items (i.e. lead in toys, sulphur in sheet rock http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2009-03-01/007117, beads with date rape drugs http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08074.html).
Capitalism has lead to things like condensed factory farming… now I’m not going to criticize it the way PETA has (partially because I eat meat and I also think PETA is a hypocritical and destructive organization http://www.helium.com/items/144911-peta-a-disgrace-to-charity-in-the-name-of-animal-rights, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ijLulwUTY), instead I will criticise it for this reason http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/view/ . Capitalism focuses on profit, usually short term, and then corporations are allowed to duck out when things get bad.
Capitalism also leads to a health care system that I believe is shameful in that it commercializes something as precious as ones health. My recent health care experiences have taught me a valuable lesson, don’t seek aid… We have a system to treat the ill… while we should have a system that prevents illnesses. I got my cholesterol checked and had to spend over 100 dollars, on top of the 20 copay and the monthly premium I pay for health insurance. My doctor recommended this check for me, which leads me to the next lesson I took away from this experience, don’t trust your doctor, they’re businessmen. These two lessons I learned are terrible. This is what our capitalistic health care system has done: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/view/ and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6646340600856118396&ei=xhUDStWPB4WaqwKriJCDAQ&q=sicko&hl=en&client=firefox-a . Don’t feel too depressed though, here’s a glimmer of hope http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
This is getting to long, so let me just throw out some extra credit if you so choose:
capitalism’s effect on the environment…
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/heat/view/
capitalism’s effect on our economy…
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown/view/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tentrillion/view/
capitalism’s effect on society…
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/released/view/
capitalisms effect on the world…
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/blackmoney/view/
I realize this turned more into a capitalism bash than a socialism rally, but as said above, we don’t have a good example of socialism yet, but that shouldn’t be the reason we don’t strive to create a better system by pointing out the problems in our current system…
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