Izlare Lenix wrote:I agree with most of what you said except #2.
Socialism has never and will never be a good form of government. Socialism borderlines communism in too many ways.
In fact many of the government's the USA considers communist actually consider themselves socialist. The former Soviet Union being a prime example as USSR stood for Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. East Germany was also socialist due to its USSR connection. Many dictator controlled countries like Iraq and Syria considered themselves socialist as does North Korea.
On paper socialisim seems to be the perfect government where everyone has equal rights to goods and services. Socialism is the working man's government, thus the use of the hammer and the sickel logo used by the USSR.
However, in reality socialism almost always fails due to greed and corruption by the few in power, causing the people to suffer and the government to collapse or slide into full communism or a dictatorship.
Any government that works is a blend of ideas from all sources because no singular political philosophy can run a country for long. Communism is a higher form of socialism, basically socialism carried to it's furthest extremes. However socialism, when blended with the proper elements from other governing ideologies, can be a very good thing. Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia have socialist economies, including much more pervasive welfare states than in the US, but are all free democracies.
The usual US definition of socialism is closer to the political definition of
totalitarianism, even Congressmen say "socialism" instead of "totalitarianism." In the academic world, "socialism" really means "state control of the economy." Socialism isn't really a bad thing in and of itself, the real question is "How much is too much socialism?"
Here's some food for thought:
Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Communism: a political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.
Totalitarianism: a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible.
Notice how far apart socialism is in definition from the other two it is always lumped in with? Socialism is a means of keeping corporate money from taking over as it has in the US, and a means of insuring the well-being of all citizens. The problem is that socialist policies can be carried too far, which leads to many of the terrible socialist governments we see today.