Why is socialism becoming increasingly popular in the United States?

This is a gross misunderstanding of how reality works. Parent are not an example of socialism.

 

Wow you said the line!

 

I think you had a roof over your head that was paid for by other people, I think you went to schools that were built and staffed and paid for by other people, I think you felt safe because the streets were patrolled by other people, I think you drove to your three jobs on roads paved by other people, in a car built by other people and burning oil that was drilled by other people in a nation whose borders were defended by other people.

 

Because its true.

 

@Talon

That is a good topic for discussion. I think your definition offered of socialism might be incomplete, but do appreciate your reference to fascism and national socialism in Germany in the 30's.

I like Mussolini's use of the term corporatism, which is manifest in the US for decades now. As for the term 'entitlement', and as one now receiving SS from the government every month, I feel I am legally entitled to my monthly payment, and I do understand that I will receive more from the system than I put into it. Maybe it is a Ponzi scheme, but I didn't write the law, I simply played the individual's role in it.

As a tax payer, I would much prefer my tax dollars be spent on education and medical care for all than being spent on endless unconstitutional military aggression around the world. Ike mentioned this in his Farewell Speech, and he was right in his warning.

 

Put it simply bitterness.

Socialism is bitterness. They want revenge for being.

Survival since the beginning of life has been work. Now is no different, you don't have to work as hard but you still have to work.

If you read about Karl Marx especially letters from his father to him you'll find out how bitter and self-centered and angry at the world this poor little man was.

It's because he had to toil. We all do. Millennials especially and I'm a millennial myself and I was part of this were lied to. So was Gen X. We were told follow your passion and the money will come. This is a lie. It should be follow your passion and develop skills and the money will come. Without skills your passion is worthless.

It is a process to develop skills and people will undervalue it and it's work to get your worth. Nobody likes doing it but it's part of the whole thing.

I think this is why mental disorders are on the rise. It's a way to place the blame for your life on something else. And people think this absolves them of the responsibility of dealing with it.

I see this same bitterness infecting both sides of politics. Red pill types are bitter because they were divorced or cheated on by the girlfriends. There is the female side of this that is not labeled but expresses the same bitterness. It's in the LGBT, religion, politics.

People have forgotten or wish to reject the idea that their world is what they make of it.

I've been in this despair before. It's a cycle that feeds itself. Like getting stuck in quicksand struggling to get out will only make it worse but you don't realize you're in it until you suck up to your neck.

Getting out is a daunting task. But I happen to know it is well worth it. Not wanting to face this task is why people kill themselves. Wanting to punish society for making this part of life is why people do mass shootings. It's not enough that they take themselves out they need to punish the world for it too.

The only way I see to fix it is kindness. I pulled myself out of the quicksand by my bootstraps and I learned what that meant. But I wasn't alone. So you have to be there for the people mired in it. Yes maybe as simple as talking to them and letting them know you care.

The human spirit is extraordinarily efficient. It can conquer the heavens on the energy from the tiniest glimmer of hope. But there has to be a glimmer.

 

I am reminded of a story mom once told me about a young man who got a job in the auto industry. He showed up for work three days a week and was never there on Thursdays and Fridays.after about a month he was called in on the carpet and when asked why he was only showing up for work three days a week and they asked him why he was only coming to work three days a week. He responded with complete honesty, "Cause I can't make enough money to live in in two."

 

Part of the reason is the fall of the USSR. After that happened, Socialism kind of lost it's figurehead bad guy.

Then the internet allowed people to connect on a whole new level. Socialist ideas spread, combined with more people actually learning what it is and realizing socialism is more than just the evil USSR we had just had a 50 year cold war with.

I'm not saying socialism is good or that we should be socialists here in the US, but it's also not the devil it was made out to be during the cold war. Incorporating elements of socialism into the Untied States isn't just a good idea, it's already been done for some time. Most people don't realize that fire departments and police departments are made possible by socialist ideas. Your tax dollars are taken by the government and reinvested into the society for the benefit of society instead of relying on private donation or fees. That's a main element of socialism and we've been using it here since this country was born.

Obviously socialism can be taken to an extreme level which we've seen in less savory parts of the world. It's also easier to take advantage of people in an overly socialist society. There are definitely drawbacks that make transitioning into a socialist country an extremely bad idea. But it doesn't mean there is nothing good that can be learned or achieved with socialist policies.

 

Nothing you did was easy I’ll admit, but that’s not a reason for why people can’t try to make things easier for people now, and quite frankly you guys shouldn’t have had to go through a very hard time to do all that either. You’re supposed to want better for this and future generations and make things less hard for them as time goes on, burdening them with more debts with what we currently have is not the way to do it.

 

Socialism at its heart is the idea that the government can run things more equitably than a business man because the government doesn't have to worry about making a profit or paying share holders. The problem is without those disciplinary forces it runs thing quite poorly. And still has all the other problems of cronyism and office politics become national politics making what can be revolting into a damn nightmare where the only rule is CYA.

 

As I explained it to a friend, to try out Communism, you need to set up a totalitarian society in which it is decided who is doing and who is getting what. Once the new Soviet man has his direction he will work without concern for profit. No need for owners or managers or government. Everyone knows what they need to do and government may dissolve away.
The problem is, at a minimum, cuz there is more, that once you set up the totalitarian government that gets to tell everyone what to do and what they are to get, that government aint dissolving for anything. They will have a few entities who will live in staggering splendor while the vast majority suffers horribly.
At best, one day, scarcity may no longer be a thing. Everyone has everything they can ever want without any effort. In such a case, Communism could work. But for now, that is a fantasy. You do not fill courses and libraries full of books about an economic system that is mere fantasy.

Course, in a future in which robots with advanced super AI are self powering, self replicating, self improving, self sustaining and able to provide humans with everything they could ever want or need, do we turn into the Eloi or fat floating people in "Walle"?

 

I think that an entirely different thing than the government runs every thing which is what socialism is.

 

Socialism has never been successful?????

For your info, in North Dakota, we have over 400 member-owned cooperatives, mainly agricultural/utility, and all have nicely prospered. In addition, the Bank of North Dakota is a state-owed bank, and financially healthy.

 

But of course it hasn't every communist revolution to date has gotten to the misnomered dictatorship of the proletariat from whence i never leaves because once you give a government the power to adjucicate from each according to his means to each according to his needs that government is never going to go anywhere of it's own free will. Power is simply too addictive. A communist govern according to old Karl is an oxymoron.

 

Cooperatives are just another form of capitalism under capitalism aka freedom you can organize your business as you see fit. And the bank of North Dakota is the smallest in the state.

 

The people are insane because the media lies to us constantly.

The media lies because it is owned by people who want to make more
money, and weapons makers get more money by starting more wars.

So the media tells us whatever will get us to start wars.

But that would make us feel bad, so they always provide a way of
explaining how somebody else started the war, a somewhat
implausible story, like Putin wants to take over all of Europe,
but the alternative is we started it, and we don't want that explanation.

 

What's funny is that the poster actually seemed sincere. That makes even more hilarious!

 

Marxism is not communism.

 

That is neither what socialism is, nor what people understand by socialism, nor what is popular. That is the MAGA-media made up version of socialism. Which nobody promotes.

So, basically, looks like you took a reality (socialism is popular) and combined it with a made-up definition (socialism is everything I hate)

REAL socialism is popular because it promotes equal opportunity. But it doesn't promote any of the things you heard in your propaganda.

 

Quote; “and the bank of North Dakota is the smallest in the state”

Really?

Total Assets

Bank of North Dakota; $10.2 billion….2022 Annual Report

By assets size, absolutely not the smallest in the state.

Do you research, and then, tell me why you’ve posted a lie?

 

Employee owned businesses aren't uncommon. They exist in every state. That isn't socialism. It is employee owned business. For the state to own a bank and compete with private sector banks isn't really socialism either. It should be outlawed. Nobody wants government as competition. Government has powers that no business has. Bad idea.

Socialism is an economic system that replaces private business. It flies in the face of human nature. People want their efforts to help them get ahead. Socialism is a big damper on that. So it exists only where there is an autocratic government that actually owns and operates the enterprises. I can tell you from personal experience that you wouldn't like living under an autocratic government.

 

It is the source of communism. Since socialism doesn't work as it goes against human nature, the result has always been autocratic governments taking ownership of business enterprises or communism.

 

Nope, key attribute of Marxism is NO STATE.

 

I disagree…..a member-owned/worker-owned cooperative, and “for profit” is both socialism and capitalism, and Bernie Sanders wants to create a cooperative society.