What Does “Democratic Socialism” Mean?
The meme here is intended to educate people who believe that democratic socialism and Marxism are somehow identical. But there are some open-ended questions: How far does this go? How much government-provided public transportation, education, and healthcare make sense? How are these things paid for, especially given the enormous tax cuts for the billionaires and corporations?
There are no fixed answers, but keep in mind that the countries whose citizens enjoy the highest quality of life on the planet are those that do, in fact, pool resources. They have higher tax rates than we do in the U.S., but they don’t resent paying them, because a) they get a great deal in return, and b) they think it’s cool that there is no hunger, homelessness, and people dying from curable diseases simply because they can’t afford treatment.
Craig,
It’s a curious fact that countries who include the term “Democratic” in the formal title of the nation, are always the least “democratic’ of nations!
So it is with “Democratic Socialism”. ‘Socialism’, is inherently undemocratic and economically inefficient.
Like being ‘a little bit pregnant’ ! Adherents of “democratic Socialism” seek to make apologies for a political ideology that has wrought terrible suffering, brutality, poverty and misery to millions of human beings.
Socialist advocates sell “socialism” by stirring up jealousy and envy, then create huge and unnecessary bureaucracies so everyone can be equally poor, and once the inevitable economic collapse occurs, leave the victims to either perish or painfully rebuild.
Advocates always point to small, highly advanced European nations like Denmark, to justify and detract from the obvious pitfalls of this disastrous ideology.
These advocates conveniently forget the most prosperous of European nations, (in fact t he world), Switzerland which is fiercely anti-socialist , but easily the most democratic” nation on earth.
The NAZI’s referred to themselves as national “Socialists”. Indeed, the party’s full name being ‘National Socialist German Workers’ Party’. (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP).
Vietnam is actually, The Democratic Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, the old GDR (East Germany) was officially the ‘German Democratic Republic’ , how about the he Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Pol Pot’s murderously genocidal “Democratic Socialist Republic of Kampuchea”, supported by the equally misnamed “Peoples” Republic of China.
Not forgetting, that paragon of freedom, the “socialist’ Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)?
Last, but not least, the newest “democratic socialist” nation, Venezuela. Hmmm,…. how’s that working out for the poor,hungry, homeless and people dying from curable diseases ?
Not so good, huh? Nevermind, ol’ Bernie Saunders and Alex Ocasio-Cortez will tell you how it wasn’t wrong to support Hugo Chavez, and how by listening to them, America could enjoy the same economy as Venezuela !
Anyone observing the institutionalized poverty found in the vast monolithic, soul less blocks of “public housing estates” (Projects in the USA) and see the failure, and terrible social cost of such government imposed “solutions”.
“Democratic socialism” is fundamentally a lie! It’s a term designed to disguise and soften brutal reality. Like a drug pusher, or seducer, the “democratic socialist’, tells the victim, “oh, just a little won’t hurt. We can always stop if you don’t like it”.
Thus, socialist ideology creeps upon a nation, until one day the people wake up to find they are no longer free, but entwined in the grip of a vast number of regulations, stifled by government bureaucracy and forced to conform to the dictates of some committee of “comrades” for fear of persecution, imprisonment or death.
Too late, far too late to protest about therights of the individual against the State. The lessons of “animal farm” went unheeded. It takes a long time, much bloodshed and pain to free society from the grip of this evil ideology.
Like a noxious weed, socialism never really dies. Each time it’s defeated and removed, the seeds wait for another couple of generations when the lessons are forgotten and once again spreads tentacles among the young.
America, when you hear the praise for “socialism” from the lips of “liberal’s” , don’t walk, run, with all your friends and neighbors to vote against the creeping malaise attacking all you hold dear!