Could democratic socialism become the brand of a new generation of political actors — not just on the fringe, not just in New York City, but across the country?
Would you classify democratic socialism and social democracy under the umbrella of socialism, or would you classify them differently? For the record, I am not a Stalinist, Leninist, or Maoist, if that clarifies matters.
Social democracy is a capitalist economic system supplemented by large and robust welfare programs and a heavily regulated private sector. Things like strong anti-monopoly laws, relatively small wage gaps between workers and executives, strong unions, and progressive taxation are all characteristic of social democracy.
Democratic socialism is similar in many respects, but its long-term goal is to eliminate capitalism entirely by transitioning the means of production to public ownership. That does not necessarily entail communism, since most democratic socialists advocate maintaining a democratic system of government rather than adopting a one-party state.
I do not classify social democracy as socialism because its economy remains fundamentally capitalist.
I do consider democratic socialism to be a form of socialism, though with many important caveats. It does not inherently require or inevitably lead to communism.
I am personally less supportive of democratic socialism because I have a deep distrust of both the human condition and the long-term viability of a fully publicly owned economy. Historically, I do not believe such systems have produced consistently successful outcomes.
So, I’ve answered all your questions because that’s what someone does when they’re asked a question.
I assume I’ve answered them adequately since you’ve seemingly run out of questions and have alluded to making a point about why you were asking them in the first place. Which is odd, because we’re in a comment thread. If I didn’t know the answer to one of your technical questions, I could simply look it up before replying. Trying to trip someone up with technical questions in an asynchronous comment thread doesn’t really accomplish much.
More importantly, I’ve answered every question you’ve asked without giving you anything to rebut, so there doesn’t seem to be much left to say.
Interestingly, though, nobody ever answers my questions.
So I’ll ask again:
Which communist country, past or present, would you choose to live in?
That wasn’t your original question though. You did not originally ask which “communist” country, you asked which “socialist” country, so I asked what you meant by “socialist”, because my first answer would have been Norway or Sweden, which I would have considered a brand of socialist.
I apologize you are correct I did indeed do that. My intention was not to obfuscate this interaction I apologize.
I will point out in closing that Sweden and Norway are not socialist in nature but are socially Democratic countries with deep and vibrant capitalist economies.
If you’re asking that question, your betraying your own ignorance. The definition of communism is classless and stateless, meaning there cannot be a commumist state.
By the way for the majority of human history humans lived in communes! It’s just human nature ;)
Would you classify democratic socialism and social democracy under the umbrella of socialism, or would you classify them differently? For the record, I am not a Stalinist, Leninist, or Maoist, if that clarifies matters.
Social democracy is a capitalist economic system supplemented by large and robust welfare programs and a heavily regulated private sector. Things like strong anti-monopoly laws, relatively small wage gaps between workers and executives, strong unions, and progressive taxation are all characteristic of social democracy.
Democratic socialism is similar in many respects, but its long-term goal is to eliminate capitalism entirely by transitioning the means of production to public ownership. That does not necessarily entail communism, since most democratic socialists advocate maintaining a democratic system of government rather than adopting a one-party state.
I do not classify social democracy as socialism because its economy remains fundamentally capitalist.
I do consider democratic socialism to be a form of socialism, though with many important caveats. It does not inherently require or inevitably lead to communism.
I am personally less supportive of democratic socialism because I have a deep distrust of both the human condition and the long-term viability of a fully publicly owned economy. Historically, I do not believe such systems have produced consistently successful outcomes.
Would you consider any European country currently existing to fall under the category of Democratic Socialism?
So, I’ve answered all your questions because that’s what someone does when they’re asked a question.
I assume I’ve answered them adequately since you’ve seemingly run out of questions and have alluded to making a point about why you were asking them in the first place. Which is odd, because we’re in a comment thread. If I didn’t know the answer to one of your technical questions, I could simply look it up before replying. Trying to trip someone up with technical questions in an asynchronous comment thread doesn’t really accomplish much.
More importantly, I’ve answered every question you’ve asked without giving you anything to rebut, so there doesn’t seem to be much left to say.
Interestingly, though, nobody ever answers my questions.
So I’ll ask again:
Which communist country, past or present, would you choose to live in?
That wasn’t your original question though. You did not originally ask which “communist” country, you asked which “socialist” country, so I asked what you meant by “socialist”, because my first answer would have been Norway or Sweden, which I would have considered a brand of socialist.
I apologize you are correct I did indeed do that. My intention was not to obfuscate this interaction I apologize.
I will point out in closing that Sweden and Norway are not socialist in nature but are socially Democratic countries with deep and vibrant capitalist economies.
If you’re asking that question, your betraying your own ignorance. The definition of communism is classless and stateless, meaning there cannot be a commumist state.
By the way for the majority of human history humans lived in communes! It’s just human nature ;)
No. There are currently no countries in Europe that are democratically socialist officially.