Great Quiz: What the Heck is Socialism Anyway? I scored 20.

[devilgrrl]

Socialism has been quite the big news recently. “We Are All Socialists Now,” screamed the Newsweek headline. Salon’s Mike Madden writes, “Here Comes Socialism” just last week and a New York Times Reporter asked President Obama if he’s a Socialist.

It’s clear that Socialism poses a grave threat to the American way of life. Or does it? The Chicken Little branch (of the GOP and Fox News) would certainly have us believe so. Others (Democrats, Obama, Geithner) shrug off the question of socialism and want to focus on solving the overriding current economic crisis.

Me? I certainly don’t have the answers and as Pope Rob might say, I’m no economist. Nor am I a political science professor or quite the A-student that Saturn Smith is. But, I do feel like there is some basic misunderstanding around what socialism is, how it is defined and implemented and what it means to American democracy.

In sum, when I read and listen to all the buzz, I feel quite like the littlest girl in The Sound of Music, who in the middle of Maria teaching the children “Do, Re, Mi” is frustrated and shouts, ”but, it doesn’t mean anything?”

Rather than burst into song ala Julie Andrews (which would be truly frightening) or write a lengthy treatise on socialism (which I considered, and thankfully rejected), I thought I’d put forth a quiz to both entertain and enlighten.

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Some of the quiz:

Section 1: General Questions. Multiple Choice.

1. Socialism is defined as:

a. A political theory advocating state ownership of industry
b. An economic system based on state ownership of capital
c. A doctrine advocating the elimination of private property and the exploitative ruling class
d. A stage in Marxist-Leninist theory on the path from capitalism to communism
e. All of the above

2. Socialism is NOT:

a. Fascism
b. Communism
c. Totalitarianism
d. Anti-Christian
e. All of the above


Section 2: Comparative Economies: TRUE or FALSE

7. Since 1995, the United States has consistently scored among the top three countries in the Index of Economic Freedoms.

8. The U.S. ranked 18th in the 2008 Democracy Index rankings compiled by The Economist.


Section 3: Taxes and an Historical Perspective. Fill in the Blanks

11. President (or Candidate) Obama has been called “Redistributionist in Chief” by: _______________________________ (there may be multiple right answers)

12. President Eisenhower cut the highest marginal tax rate from 92% to ______.


more: http://open.salon.com/blog/lpsrocks/2009/03/15/what_the_heck_is_socialism_anyway_a_quiz