In Defense Of Socialism

There is too much political polarisation on this website, distinctions between socialism and libertarianism are not absolute, they are a product of subtle interpretations of the role of the state in securing negative freedom.

This video is an invitation for those with socialist and libertarian views to recognise their common ground, but it is by no means an attempt to equate the two. The debate between the two sides is neccesary for both sides to stay relevant.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Socialism
• Libertarianism
• Progressive
• Regressive
• Collectivist
• Individualist

[ec123456789able]

awesome video, i agree with almost everything you say :)

i hate bible thumping, gun loving, repressed, homophobic, sexist, republicans.

[diomedes39]

Do you not like democratic socialism?

[JmkLcAeJsm]

Society can be usefully defined as those norms, customs, practices, rituals, rules and pieces of knowledge that form the basis for our common experience. As such, every time you talk to an individual, you're shaping, and being shaped by society. Certainly this is what we in the profession of Economics think, and there's great work being done in network theory which shows it in action!

[rmcdaniel423]

@sNaYkE15 I don't interact with society in a "universal sense". If you believe in gods, perhaps they see things that way. But I, personally, talk to individuals, have relationships with individuals, do business with individuals, etc. You can be an anonymous part of a giant pile of human mold if you want. I will be me, thank you very much. :)

[sNaYkE15]

@rmcdaniel423 If you look at it in a universal sense, we're not really individuals, we just think we are. When we look at mold, we don't look at individual mold spores with individual identities, it's just a pile of fucking mold ^_^ We have that sense of individualism so that evolution can work, so that we keep surviving and perpetuating the system. Besides, we're tiny little things, we aren't exactly all powerful...

[rmcdaniel423]

I support your right to *pursue* health and education. I do NOT support your right to *obtain* health and education, at my expense.

Societies are comprised of individuals. The collective as a whole is a piece of fiction. It is an abstract construct for the purpose of communication. I do not interact with "a society". I interact with individuals. I may walk amongst a "forest", but if I swing an axe, I will hit a tree.

[firestrings272]

@JmkLcAeJsm And If they don't? Such a democratic shift would take years to develop in order to ease in the masses into the very concept of communism. That's the Fabian approach, its been happening for the past 100 years. Radical change demands radical action regardless of what the populace wants. And such action has always been a failure.

[JmkLcAeJsm]

Manifestly that's not true. If a democratic majority voted for a communist system, and for all private enterprises to be compelled by law to donate their assets to the state, there would be no more military force required than to maintain our current social democracy.

In fact, we are all compelled, by military force, to give a portion of our resources to the state.

[firestrings272]

@bioshockftw123 In evolution, every step has its transitional period. There is no way around it. To establish a communist state would take military force and then the establishment of a "temporary" military system. Such a thing would only become another dictatorship in which the communist ideals as interpreted by those leading the force would take precedent, regardless of the feelings, thoughts or voice of the people. Communism, socialism, fascism are all about one thing...centralized Power.

[bioshockftw123]

@firestrings272 That's why I don't support Socialism I support a radical change from Capitalism to Communism with no Socialist state in between.