In your opinion, what is right or wrong about socialism?

Question

In your opinion, what is right or wrong about socialism?

Answer 1

The degree of socialism in a society is inversely proportional to the encouragement of the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country great.

Answer 2

The idea is lovely - - that everyone should have as much as the next guy and the wealth of a country should be shared amongst all its citizens.

The problem is that it is totally against human nature and it actually de-motivates people.  

If you have a big-screen TV and I want one, then I have to save or get another job or whatever to obtain what I want.  In a socialist society, neither of us would have the big-screen, we'd both have basic TV and a 27-inch screen and thats it - - no ability to get something better.

Answer 3

Socialism is like giving music lessons only to people with no musical talent. After all, they need it most. Socialism ignores the reality that to get people who start out unequal to end up equal, you have to treat them unequally.

Answer 4

I can not afford to pay anymore taxes to help the lazy, scum bags that don't have enough ambition to get off of the public dollar.

Answer 5

What is right (morally) is that nobody gets left behind.  I just got back from Denmark and it is very much a socialist utopia. They have universal healthcare, welfare, extreme gov't involvement in business, and there is always a safety net for people, whether these people are trying to help themselves or not.

What is wrong (realistically) is that the population of the Earth is growing at such a fast rate that many experts think that there will be 20 billion people here by 2050.  There is no way that there are enough resources to satisfy that many people. Therefore, in the long term, there is no way that socialism will work.  

Socialism works on the assumption that there are enough resources for everyone to share, which is true in some places around the world right now. But when the population reaches a point that the natural resources cannot sustain the people, then there will be the biggest world war ever.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when people stop fighting for political views or for religion, and instead are fighting for food, water, clothing, and other necessities of life.  

Socialism seems like the right thing to do, but on a long timescale, it will only lead to a magnificent collapse.

Answer 6

We need to decentralize our government, ... not increase it's central dimensions. It's way too big and bloated now, we certainly don't need higher taxes and less local control. Socialism is a huge failure wherever it's tried, ... it's a good concept, ... it just doesn't have a chance of working, human nature being what it is.

Answer 7

Socialism is a Nanny State philosophy, which believes that the State knows our business better than we do.

Reading about the Purges under Stalin, the interesting thing is that those accused saw the logic in the State demanding their death. After all, they had executed many people in the name of Mother Russia, so it was entirely logical when their turn came.

Socialism tends to produce its own elite, who abuse the system as much as the oligarchs before the Revolution. Tony Benn doesn't crack the "Hereditary Football Team" joke so much, now that his son Hilary is in power. So Socialism is no bar to nepotism.

There are many good things to say about Socialism.... aren't there?

Answer 8

The bad thing its like a Boa Constrictor, always tightening its grip until it kills its prey (taxpayers), good thing is a usually a Right Wing Fanatic saves the day