Is Democratic Socialism Feasible?

[Katamariguy]

After all, capitalism seems to be going down the crapper these days. Of course, it goes to say that there might be a reason that basically every communist movement ended an autocracy.

Completely unrelated, the USSR did produce the most popular video game of all time.

 

[ríomhaire]

Yes.
.

 

[Doomination]

Completely unrelated, the USSR did produce the most popular video game of all time.

[citation needed]

 

[Bad^Hat]

As Che Guevara once said, "probably."

 

[Remus]

In short...

NO.

 

[Adabiviak]

Sure - any socio-political system is feasible if the entire population believes in it and supports it. That's just unusually hard to do.

 

[Naudian]

Mmhmm.

 

[Stigmata]

America has survived as Oligarchic Socialism for at least half a century. I don't see how democratic socialism could possibly be worse.

 

[lord_raken]

Any system can become corrupt or incompetent. That its why its up to the people and leaders to remain vigilant. The reason why American capitalism is so out of whack is because the people have stopped caring and fallen into passive ignorance. Additionally this has freed politicians from their accountability to the public and allowed them to give in to special interest groups.

I'm a Libertarian but I'm not wholly against a medical safety-net for the porrest people in our nation (ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure and all that). I know that pure free market would be just as unsustainably as socialism. Finding the right mixture of the two is difficult.

I'm for a system that allows for free enterprise, expansion, and fierce competition. The only regulations I think are necessary are public health regulations and regulations that keep special interestes minimized and transparent, if not eliminated entirely. This is probably over simplified but I think its a good place to start.

But like I said above, the best system in the world will only remain the best if the people watch and guard its integrity like an eagle.... the Eagle of Freedom! :cheese: *cheesy grin*

 

[Acepilotf14]

[citation needed]

http://www.ign.com/top-100-nes-games/48.html

It was actually California.

 

[Maestro]

Any system can become corrupt or incompetent. That its why its up to the people and leaders to remain vigilant. The reason why American capitalism is so out of whack is because the people have stopped caring and fallen into passive ignorance. Additionally this has freed politicians from their accountability to the public and allowed them to give in to special interest groups.

I'm a Libertarian but I'm not wholly against a medical safety-net for the porrest people in our nation (ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure and all that). I know that pure free market would be just as unsustainably as socialism. Finding the right mixture of the two is difficult.

I'm for a system that allows for free enterprise, expansion, and fierce competition. The only regulations I think are necessary are public health regulations and regulations that keep special interestes minimized and transparent, if not eliminated entirely. This is probably over simplified but I think its a good place to start.

But like I said above, the best system in the world will only remain the best if the people watch and guard its integrity like an eagle.... the Eagle of Freedom! :cheese: *cheesy grin*

And if chocolate pudding would rain from the sky, right? Expecting honest politicians or vigilant citizens is a dream doomed to permanent fantasy. If we were capable of actually creating a good government, then we wouldn't need it anyway. We just have to let the government limp along and hope it manages not to **** up too many things along the way. "Necessary evil" was probably coined just for governmental matters.

 

[capital]

Capitalism is going down the crapper? If you actually understood what capitalism is and how it relates to human action and morality you would know what is actually going on. I guess all those economic crisis in europe are because of capitalism too.

 

[Maestro]

I think what people mean when they say "Capitalism is going down the crapper" they really mean "the US and Europe are in deep shit due to their own fiscal and regulatory ineptitude."

 

[Asknoone]

After all, capitalism seems to be going down the crapper these days.

Has it ever been circling anything else?

 

[Sulkdodds]

"the US and Europe are in deep shit due to legislative capture over the past 40 years by the international rich."

Fixed!

 

[Maestro]

Yeah, isn't it wonderful to see that corporations are now people?

 

[Kadayi]

A lot depends on cultural mindset. There was a pretty interesting thing on the BBC recently about the financial Crisis (be warned hour long episodes): -

Part 1

Part 2

The main things I took out of it was a lot to do with how the Chinese constantly have their eye on the future, work like maniacs and save as much money as they can (often up to 50% of their salary..something we can only dream of in the UK with the high cost of living), and a lot of that comes down to the fact that they don't have much of a welfare system in place so people are pretty motivated to safeguard their futures, by setting aside for a rainy day. They still shop and spend like the rest of us, but they're far more conservative with their expenditure overall, and most importantly live within their means.

I don't necessarily think that people are deliberately lazy here in the West, but I think that there's an argument that the social welfare systems we've put in place (well meaning as their original intent was as a social safety net) may have culturally desensitized a growing sector of the populace with a view to thinking about tomorrow Vs enjoying the distractions of the now. I spent a bit of time working in the DSS and those horror stories you hear of families on long term income support with 10 -12 kids, are (albeit rare) frighteningly real. Children born into income support poverty have little if any chance of escaping it themselves which is the real tragedy. No one I know who works has that many children because they simply couldn't afford it (kids are expensive). The problem is how to re-engineer those social welfare systems and change that cultural mindset without negative social consequences and within the reality of the present financial situation. Unfortunately I'm not entirely convinced the Conservatives have a clue how to do pull that off successfully.

 

[Gargantou]

Katamariguy, I'm sorry but I have to ask since some people I've spoken to before tend to use democratic socialism to refer to social democracy?

Do you consider social democracy a form of democratic socialism?

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

The real question is: is democratic capitalism feasible?

Corporate ownership of the public sphere would suggest no...

 

[Mr Stabby]

No, it cannot solve the economic calculation problem.

What should the price of oil be? I vote 7 cents a gallon.