Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mikhayl
In the end a "capitalist" government will tax you just as much as a "socialist" government, the only difference is in where the money goes.
|
Funny, I lived in Russia for more than a little while, but I'm still a convinced socialist. It's true, socialism can go wrong - but then whether there was any real socialism in a place like Russia is debatable. I don't think there was.
People underestimate the positive impact socialism has had historically. In fact, I would say that were it not for socialist agenda being rationally implemented in the West in the form of labour regulation (work hours, minimum wage policies, unions), healthcare and improved public funding for other public services in the early 20th century, there would have been a revolution akin to the Russian one. The West cut it very close in those years, and many of those fixes were rather painful to the system and resisted almost to the extreme by some elements in society. But the fixes ultimately helped to save society and enhance democracy by creating a working middle class, something that's a necessity to maintain a free, democratic society in balance.
The problem is that now the balance is again threatened. There's going to need to be similar fixes as the system is basically breaking down. There is, of course, the other side to this where the social services themselves are in need of reform because they're getting abused (see the infamous "damn immigrants on welfare!" argument). The problem is that in all of this, a lot of upper-middle-class people and, shall we be honest and say "rednecks", are not seeing the bigger picture here. A lot of libertarian ideologues polluting their heads with the idea that if you have it, you've earned it, and if they don't have it - f them. The problem is that once you lose your middle class, you can say goodbye to democracy. You then might as well legalize slavery because that's what the situation will equate to. All that is good about the West's liberal democratic system and its social freedoms stems from economic balance and a predominance of a solid middle class.
What I've learned by growing up in Russia is not that socialism is bad. What I've learned is that a situation in a highly developed society where there is no middle class, but instead a small elite and a predominantly impoverished majority, is inherently impossible to maintain a fair, democratic system in - and furthermore results in major social collapse. It's a very tragic thing to watch. And if anyone for a second thinks that something like that is impossible in the West - well, time will tell. And I will say that if you don't protect your middle class and with it, a neccesary social balance, you're going to end up with a very tragic situation on your hands. There are fixes that, as in the early 20th century, the socialist agenda can offer. It's up to the society whether to accept them or not. But I'm afraid that if you think things will fix themselves, you're sadly mistaken.