Socialism

Im not against capitalism overall but I do think it can benefit from socialistic elements. I'm debating against a number of misconceptions that you (and many other proponents of capitalism) have. There will always be differing moral opinions, but it's important that we at least understand what we are arguing against. First, socialism and communism are not two interchangeable ideas. The idea that communism is just like socialism except a darker shade of red is a misconception (often created by conservative blogs/talkshows and such). They're two different systems. Socialism is an idea and a principle - not a concrete system in itself. It is a modification of capitalism - not a replacement of it. It emphasizes redistribution of wealth. Aka, people get paid at their jobs and then taxes/programs even out the disparity. Communism is the sharing of wealth in which all workers own an equal amount of shares in the company. Countries in Europe for example have a lot of socialistic elements but are not communist because (wealth redistribution aside, the workers still do not own part of the company). Capitalism and socialism arent a mutually exclusive binary. Its not black or white. Its not a matter of capitalist vs socialist countries. Almost all economies in the world right now are mixed. Its not a matter of being a pure capitalist country or else you're communist like the Soviet Union. Countries like France and Sweden still uses the capitalism system except they have a lot of socialistic elements in them. We can wax poetic about the flaws in every country (whether they lean toward the purer side of capitalism or whether they have socialistic elements), but the European countries arent a dystopia. Its not like most of the people in the country are starving. One's daily life in Scandanavia or the UK isn't too much different than in America. Its not like the people there are devoid of resources and opportunities. Socialism doesnt by principle have to involve price fixes. The United States is a mixed economy with socialistic elements too. It was even under the policies of conservative politicians like Reagan, who supported Medicare, Social Security and other Great Society programs. Maybe you support 10-20% socialism instead of 40% socialism, but unless you are a pure minarchist by principle, you support some degree of socialism. Maybe not as much as I do, but still. The issue I have is when conservatives use the word socialism to deride any socialistic policies they dont like, but never acknowledge some of their own socialistic policies as socialistic. Its become a buzz word. Ill end my first argument by mentioning a book by PJ O Rourke called Eat The Rich. Despite what the title sounds like, he's a libertarian. But the point of the book is that there's good capitalism (Hong Kong), bad capitalism (Albania in the 90s), good socialism (Sweden) and bad socialism (Soviet Union). It's a matter of how socialism is applied. Not a matter of System A being the the only good one and System B being always bad. The world is always more complicated (beyond just good versus evil) than a one-sided view would suggest. If you believe that socialism is against your moral beliefs, that is your prerogative, but that doesnt mean its an absolutely bad thing. 1) There are many countries with socialistic doing relatively well. 2) Socialistic policies arent always bad. 3) Most people are for some degree of socialism but won't admit it because the word carries a stigma 4) A country can have a capitalistic system while having socialistic elements. 5) Socialism isn't communism, or the the devil satan himself for that matter.