Reply #43: Can you point to a free society?

[durutti]

I certainly can't. I'm being completely serious. All human societies for the last 5,000 years have been characterized by the rule of one class over others. All that's changed is the means by which that rule is maintained. We have freedom of the press only for those who own it and a right to a fair trial for those who can afford a good attorney. And that's only in the most progressive capitalist states. In say, Colombia, cruder methods are employed. And the further the system sinks into crisis, the more necessary it becomes to employ these latter kinds of methods.

Capitalist states are, after a fashion, the most "free" governments that have yet existed. But this improvement is largely one of style, rather than substance; and the more economic (and therefore social) troubles the system encounters, the more rapidly these gains fade away.

It is true that the various "socialist" states that have been established since 1917 have left much to be desired in terms of democratic rights (though in terms of social rights such as food, health care, education, and so on, some made considerable progress). But it does not follow that socialism has to look that way. Previous socialist revolutions took place in countries that were for the most part economically and politically backward, with little in the way of democratic traditions or accumulated wealth. In a country like the United States, a fully socialized economy could give way to a truly democratic form of governance -- a truly free society.