Democratic Socialism Explained

[SandersDem]

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/14/9530787/socialism-history-explained

This is such a GREAT article and one that I will use to explain to my friends who don't understand. Definitely worth a thorough read by everyone in this group to better explain Sander's position and exactly WHY he identifies as a Democratic Socialist.

[Timber4598]

1. Vote for Socialism

Sure, we could all live in a socialist country... Let me begin by saying that nothing is free in this life. We could live our lives and give all our money to the government to evenly distribute so everything is fair. What you would end up having is little or no freedom because everything you received would be run by the government. Furthermore, if everyone get's the same thing in life where is the passion or motivation to do great things? If I lived life and always got the same thing as everyone else, then what would be the incentive to excel? How could that ever empower someone? If anything, it removes empowerment because you take what is given to you. Sorry, but I appreciate my choices in life.

[pugetres]

2. Welcome, Timber!

The link provided in the OP is a good place to start to get a better understanding of the confusing definitions. With so many terms being used and misused, everyone would benefit from a bit of a primer.

[tecelote]

4. Democratic Socialism - we already have socialism for corporations

It's not that everyone gets the same total. They get the same base minimum.

Article:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/32536-socialism-lets-cut-to-the-chase

Excerpt:

...Recent painful examples of the nation’s wealth being redistributed from working class Americans to the wealthiest include the Iraq war and the so-called housing bubble collapse.

The Iraq War transferred, by all accounts, trillions of US taxpayer dollars into the coffers of arms manufacturers and contractors. It was in all likelihood the largest and most rapid such transference in history.

The housing boom-to-bust “Recession of 2008,” arguably continuing today, turned American homes into Wall Street commodities. The result was that millions of Americans lost their homes. Wall Street investors got rich betting on the bust, and those who lost money recovered it from investment insurers, who were then bailed out by the American taxpayer. Wealth redistributed – big time.

The conflict isn’t over Socialism, it’s over who should be allowed to enjoy its benefits. The nation’s wealthiest 1% of individuals and corporations do. Everyone else does not, but certainly should...

[Enthusiast]

5. PLUS ONE, a whole bunch!

[Enthusiast]

6. No one is advocating totally perfect equality as described in your post.

But what we have now is completely unacceptable. The many millions of us have lost our representation due to the influence of money in our elections and the legislative process. The General Welfare has been sacrificed for the good of the corporations and the ultra wealthy. It has become trickle down on steroids.

[lostnfound]

7. The Feudalism supported by the rest of the political class is Soooo much better

Feudalism is what we are moving toward, with every corporate-backed candidate that gets elected. Read The Divine Right of Capital.

[SandersDem]

8. This is down a ways in the article...ya got to read for the meat.

The good news is that neither Sanders nor European social democratic parties favor the creation of a Soviet-style economy or a Soviet-style political system. There are plenty of other models of socialist society, some of which have worked in practice, and many of which have never been tried.

In particular, the Nordic social democracies that Sanders praises are demonstrably economic success stories. One could fairly argue that these societies have successfully ended, or at least drastically curtailed, the worst excesses of capitalism. In 2012, the relative poverty rate — the share of the population living on less than half the median income — was only 9 percent in Sweden and 5.4 percent in Denmark. In the US, by contrast, it was 17.9 percent. Infant mortality in Finland is roughly half that in the US, largely because poor Finns get better health care than poor Americans.

[RoccoR5955]

3. A good program on Laura Flanders' show

also explains it, and how socialism is part of American culture. Here's a link: