philosophy
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Joined: 2/15/2004 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: TheHeretic Some things can only be achieved by unified effort for the greater good, but such occurences should be the exception, not the norm. quote:
ORIGINAL: NeedToUseYou Socialist concepts in my mind should only exist in areas where we all draw a benefit. That's it really. I don't like socializing business though, regulating business is fine, socializing it is not. ......broadly i agree with both these statements. i've said before that i favour a mixed economy. Infrastructure socialised, all other industry not socialised but regulated to stop the worst excesses of rampant capitalism. i've said it before but it hasn't stopped me being called a socialist. There are certain aspects to a modern economy that benefit society universally. Transport infrastructure, health services, military, power, water, the post office, law enforcement etc. These i believe ought to be run, not for maximum profit, but for maximum efficiency. The free market doesn't always provide this. The UK experience of privatisation of the rail network is a good example. Operating costs went up, efficiency went down, costs to consumers went up, safety issues became more of a problem......oh, but the food got a bit better. However, the converse is also true.....there are elements of society (large elements) that need to remain in private hands. Competition is good in some areas, bad in others. There are ideologues from both camps on these fora. Some have no problem with total nationalisation, some have no problem with total privatisation. Me, i'm in the middle.....and arguably that makes me a real socialist. Not someone who wants to move on to communism, not someone who wants to bring down Western society......but someone who wants society to work as efficiently as possible. Now, i've heard Obama referred to, disparagingly, on these fora as a socialist. i don't see too much in what he plans that is blatantly socialist, nevertheless the label is thrown around willy nilly. It's an attempt to demonise his motives, his vision of how a society works best. This word needs to be reclaimed by the middle ground, which it most accurately describes. Socialists....not monsters.
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