I do like me some socialism, as I do believe it is the tonic that will address some of the societal problems we are currently experiencing. I think tackling the inherent problems socialism bring with it might be good for a change. It’s like changing the government every so often, clear out the old graft and corruption and make way for a fresher, newer array of graft and corruption, perhaps even doing some positive governance things before bought off by the powers that be. Chris Wright makes some good points by focusing on the alienation that people can experience in a capitalist society.
“The case for socialism is usually made, rightly, from the perspective of its justice. It would be just to have economic and social democracy, for one thing because it is intrinsically right that people not be forced to rent themselves to a business owner who exploits them for profit but instead that they collectively control economic activities and distribute rewards as they see fit. Moreover, economic democracy, whether in the form of worker cooperatives or democratic government control, would essentially make impossible the extreme income inequality that corrodes political democracy and ultimately unravels the social fabric.
But it’s also worth broadcasting the message that even from an existentialist point of view, our only hope is socialism. Certain types of conservatives (usually religious) like to complain about the demise of the family, the community, non-hedonistic interpersonal ties, and the sense of meaning in our lives, a demise for which they blame such nebulous phenomena as secularism, “humanism,” communism, and liberalism. That is, everything except what really matters: capitalism, the reduction of multifaceted life to the monomaniacal pursuit of profit, property, and power. So these conservatives end up in the realm of fascism or neofascism, which promises only to complete the destruction of family and community.
The truth is that only socialism, or an economically democratic society in which there is no capitalist class, could possibly usher in a world in which the existentialist howl of Camus and Sartre didn’t have universal resonance. Mass loneliness, “homelessness,” and the gnawing sense of meaninglessness are not timeless conditions; they’re predictable expressions of a commoditized, privatized, bureaucratized civilization. Do away with the agent of enforced commoditization, privatization, and hyper-bureaucratization-for-the-sake-of-social-control—i.e., the capitalist class—and you’ll do away with the despair that arises from these things.”
10 comments
September 7, 2019 at 11:57 am
john zande
I’m in.
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September 7, 2019 at 12:00 pm
The Arbourist
@JZ
Me too. Although I’m kind of living the dream already here in Canada, but our social democratic system is under constant assault by neo-liberal capitalist forces/dogma.
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September 7, 2019 at 12:04 pm
john zande
Same in Australia. Has to be fought for. Brazil would be a good example if the bloody politicians weren’t such thieves.
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September 8, 2019 at 1:03 am
Case for socialism | Random thoughts
[…] is a good case why we should consider socialism. I am not sure this will be possible in the US of A where in 2019, […]
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September 8, 2019 at 7:26 am
jim-
One thing that constantly nags at me is capitalism’s way of forcing participation through its inflation. It’s a stressful struggle to keep up, and if you don’t? You lose everything.
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September 8, 2019 at 7:44 am
The Arbourist
@jim
I agree. Inflation is nasty, but also present under more socialist structured economies. As I live in a social democratic society, albeit the most conservative of the bunch, I’d like to see more focus on the people, rather than the business of Alberta. Both go hand in hand, but I was keen on the centre-ish policies of the recently departed Alberta NDP, as opposed to the straight up neo-liberal platform being advanced by our United Conservative Party.
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September 8, 2019 at 7:49 am
jim-
Is that inflation due to the socialist structured economy, or its trading partners? The US economy is so huge it drags everyone in, like it or not. You?
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September 8, 2019 at 7:56 am
The Arbourist
@Jim
Well as we structure the economy similarly to the US, we suffer the same inflation. Our rate is around 2% a the moment.
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September 8, 2019 at 7:59 am
jim-
That 2% certainly keeps people moving. But for whom? Great thinks to consider.
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September 8, 2019 at 8:29 am
inspiredbythedivine1
I’m in, too!
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