What's So Bad About Socialism Anyway?

Anonymous
Seriously, I don't get it. Are people mixing up socialism with communism?

The only negative I ever hear about socialism is that sometimes you have to wait a while to get access to certain healthcare services. But what else about it is so terrible?
Anonymous
I do not think is bad, but it is an utopia..true socialism I mean. The ones in place only serve to enrich a few (the ones in power).

But I do believe in more govermental intervention, to assecure a minimum of basic services to everyone - especially in a rich country like US. Like healthcare (even it is not as good as private care) and paid maternity leave for working mothers.
Anonymous
I want to be able to work hard and keep my earnings. That's what's wrong with socialism.
Anonymous
...PP, so you are not your sisters keeper???

I think socialized medicine and education are the hallmark of civilized societies. Look at Canada, The Netherlands and other European nations have better health care management, less crime, more educated population, less discrepancy b/t rich and poor...we rank 48th in the world in maternal deaths during childbirth and our infant mortality rate isnt much better...how scarey. Ireland was like 148th.....


Anonymous
The government has a difficult time doing even the most basic things right. Like fixing potholes or processing taxes, or registering cars car, or educating our public school children. What baffles me is that people want to turn even more power over to our government. Health care?! All education?! I'm not interested in the government running any more of my life than it already does. I'm not interested in the government taking more of my money for wasted beaurocracy than it already does. I'm not interested in a national wealth redistribution plan funded by my hard work. I want the government OUT of my business, not further up my ass. Too much government involvement stifles creativity and generosity. The more we hand our lives over to the government, the more we lose our individual freedoms and power of choice. This is what I think is so bad about Socialism -- gives way too much power to an untrusted entity.

Anonymous
socialized medicine and education are the hallmark of civilized societies. Look at Canada, The Netherlands and other European nations have better health care management......we rank 48th in the world in maternal deaths during childbirth and our infant mortality rate isnt much better...how scarey.


We rank low in infant and maternal mortality NOT because we lack socialized medicine but precisely *because* the government over-regulates childbirth in this country. In the countries you mentioned, far more births are attended by midwives. The Netherlands, with the best maternity outcomes in the entire world, delivers 1/3 of all their babies with midwives at home. Unfortunately, officials in this country (in bed with organizations such as ACOG) make the practice of midwifery practically (or actually) illegal in many places, taking away women's right to choose the best health care possible for themselves.
Anonymous
I, too, wonder what's so bad about socialism - namely socialized medicine. We HAVE to pay taxes for law and order in this country, for the programs that help the less fortunate. I think it's so wrong that people go bankrupt to pay for their medical bills.

I respect the argument that it could (but not proven) squelch creativity but I don't think our current healthcare system does the job. All children should have access to free healthcare, there should be some caps on how much a person pays for their medical bills.

The best and newest drugs out there aren't cheap - the drug companies have made enormous profits by being able to renew their patents and not allow generic equivalents of their drugs.

As someone who works in healthcare and has to fight for coverage for life-saving medications their doctor thinks is right for them or their patient goes without; I hate our current health care system for that.

Also, it's more than just the government that has heavily regulated childbirth in this country, it's groups like the AMA who have medicalized medicine (for their own greedy profits) and made us think that we *have* to have our babies in hospitals.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I want to be able to work hard and keep my earnings. That's what's wrong with socialism.


Thank you. ITA. I didn't work my way through college, living in student ghettos, subsisting on 5/$1 mac and cheese, and work my a$$ off for years just to turn around and say here, govt., I worked hard for this but you know better than I who deserves the fruit of my labors.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:...PP, so you are not your sisters keeper???

I think socialized medicine and education are the hallmark of civilized societies. Look at Canada, The Netherlands and other European nations have better health care management, less crime, more educated population, less discrepancy b/t rich and poor...we rank 48th in the world in maternal deaths during childbirth and our infant mortality rate isnt much better...how scarey. Ireland was like 148th.....




This is an area of honest disagreement between liberals and conservatives, and why the choice between liberal ideology (Obama) and conservative views (McCain) makes this such an easy choice for me. Unfortunately, lost in the charges of racism and terrorism is the starkly real choice between the two. Canada's health care? No thanks, I'll take our system with it warts over theirs.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:The government has a difficult time doing even the most basic things right. Like fixing potholes or processing taxes, or registering cars car, or educating our public school children. What baffles me is that people want to turn even more power over to our government. Health care?! All education?! I'm not interested in the government running any more of my life than it already does. I'm not interested in the government taking more of my money for wasted beaurocracy than it already does. I'm not interested in a national wealth redistribution plan funded by my hard work. I want the government OUT of my business, not further up my ass. Too much government involvement stifles creativity and generosity. The more we hand our lives over to the government, the more we lose our individual freedoms and power of choice. This is what I think is so bad about Socialism -- gives way too much power to an untrusted entity.



So I'm curious to know who you think should educate our children, provide sewage, fix the roads which in my opinion are public goods.
Anonymous
The socialism requires more of a government while giving it LESS control over general population. It is far easier to control uneducated masses, who worry about paying bills, healthcare, saving for retirement, etc. When people have less worries in their everyday lives, when they have free access to education, they learn more, they start to question their government, how their taxes are being spent, who makes what decisions on the top and why.

Do you think Bush and Congress would have been able to pull this country into this stupid war if masses were more educated? Would they been able to feed the BS to people as easily if people knew more, if population weren't bogged down in the worries of every day lives? If you want government out of your business and serving you as it is supposed to - socialism is an answer.

But of course, if you eat up BS you're fed every day and don't question anything, because you're taught not to question, then it is understandable where you're coming from when you say you don't want government up your ass.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Seriously, I don't get it. Are people mixing up socialism with communism?

The only negative I ever hear about socialism is that sometimes you have to wait a while to get access to certain healthcare services. But what else about it is so terrible?

Are you sure you're not confusing welfare capitalism with socialism? I don't believe that any European countries are socialist but many are welfare capitalist states. Having national health care doesn't make a country socialist, just as having Social Security (once considered a communist plot) doesn't make the US socialist.
Anonymous
PP again -- And for other PPs, Canada is most definitely not socialist. Perhaps it would be better to address this thread to national health care rather than socialism.
Anonymous
I don't think Obama is a socialist. In his unscripted moments, though, he sometimes says things that could lead one to believe he is. I understand that an Ohio plumber asked him about his proposed tax plan and Obama replied, " "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." That sounds like socialism but I have a hard time believing Obama is a socialist. He's a classic liberal, yes, but not a socialist. Universal (or near-universal) health care is not socialist. Were Obama to seriously believe in a massive redistribution of wealth, that would be socialist. But he doesn't, to my knowledge. And both Obama and McCain are going to have to acknowledge that, given economic realities, tax cuts for anyone are a dubious proposition. I have yet to hear either of them admit that, of course!

Anonymous
Now that Bush is buying up the banks, I'd have to say that he's the Socialist!
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