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4meAndyou · F
I am playing devil's advocate, because I agree with your statement, but I will say this: There are SOME programs socialist in nature which are presently in use in the United States, like Social Security and Medicare for people over the age of 65, which are extremely valuable.
These are social safety nets, designed to prevent the impoverished elderly from dying in poverty and disease, uncared for when they become too old and too sick to work. Old age is a simple fact of life, and these programs deal with it.
(The fact that both social security and medicare are in financial trouble right this minute without ADDING more people to those programs, should be a giant flashing red light for those who wish to topple those systems by overloading them).
During the Great Depression of the 1930's, I think people here would have been happy to stand in a bread line longer than the Black Friday line at Walmart. I don't know if they would want to do that every day.
Socialist programs like welfare and food stamps ensure that those who are legitimately in a state of extreme poverty do not starve. We also have socialist supplemental programs, also based on income, where people who are down on their luck can go and get food at food pantries located in churches and in every town.
So, the socialist programs we HAVE are very helpful...and at present we can even afford to fund them.
Like a life raft designed for a certain number of people, socialist programs must be sustainable and fundable for the number of people who will be using those programs.
These are social safety nets, designed to prevent the impoverished elderly from dying in poverty and disease, uncared for when they become too old and too sick to work. Old age is a simple fact of life, and these programs deal with it.
(The fact that both social security and medicare are in financial trouble right this minute without ADDING more people to those programs, should be a giant flashing red light for those who wish to topple those systems by overloading them).
During the Great Depression of the 1930's, I think people here would have been happy to stand in a bread line longer than the Black Friday line at Walmart. I don't know if they would want to do that every day.
Socialist programs like welfare and food stamps ensure that those who are legitimately in a state of extreme poverty do not starve. We also have socialist supplemental programs, also based on income, where people who are down on their luck can go and get food at food pantries located in churches and in every town.
So, the socialist programs we HAVE are very helpful...and at present we can even afford to fund them.
Like a life raft designed for a certain number of people, socialist programs must be sustainable and fundable for the number of people who will be using those programs.
@4meAndyou A society cannot have a good 'quality of life' without some measure of collectivism. That is why I believe democratic socialism is either the most common political economic system in the 'free world', or it is the ultimate oxymoron. People define 'socialism' so loosely, that the US is already a 'socialist' country in the eyes of many.