Socialism is a step backwards in human evolution

I would like to open by pointing out that Pro did not address my claims, choosing instead to print anti-socialist propaganda with no evidence to support his case. I would once again ask my opponent that in the final round he utilize the many sources available to him on this topic to support his case. Otherwise, it is just one man's grumblings. I would further like to point out that he dropped his claim that capitalist societies are "10 to 100 times richer" than socialist societies. He did not provide evidence for the claim and he failed to mention it at all. Therefore we can assume that he concedes the point because there is no evidence to support it. There is, however, evidence to suggest that moderate socialism is on the same level of national wealth as capitalism. Below is the per capita GDP (PPP) of the United States (partially socialist, but for argument's sake we will consider the US capitalist) and a few socialist countries. PPP stands for Purchasing Power Parity. Statistics gathered from CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov...): Per Capita GDP (PPP) United States: $48,000 (2008 estimate) Norway: 57,500 (2008 est.) Luxemburg: 85,100 (2008 est.) Sweden: 39,600 (2008 est.) United Kingdom: 37,400(2008 est.) Finland: 38,400 (2008 est.) This should by no means be considered a comprehensive list. It merely serves to show that socialist countries are not "10 to 100 times," or even 2 times, more poor than capitalist countries. ------------- Pro Claims: "Capitalism always works when the rule of law is enforced. I say this because there are examples of the failure of capitalism but all have one thing in common, the rule of law was not enforced and corruption was allowed to take hold." REBUTTAL: Pro provides no supporting evidence, but for the sake of argument we will consider his claim to be accurate. Let me point out, however, that the term 'Socialism' could very easily replace 'Capitalism' in his claim and it would hold the same amount of validity. Obviously corruption can cause an economic system to fail no matter what form. Socialist and capitalist examples both abound. There are also many examples of both capitalist and socialist countries that have prospered (see above list for just a few). Pro Claims: "Socialism can not work unless it has a host to feed off of, capitalism." REBUTTAL: This is merely the opinion of one man. This is not an objective statement and there is nothing unbiased about it. I will throw a similar statement right back. 'Capitalism can not work unless it has a host to feed off of, democracy.' Most forms of socialism in practice today work hand-in-hand with capitalism, this is true. But is that negative? Humanity is always striving to work out the faults of any system. The marriage between capitalism and socialism is just one example of this. Proponents of both seek to minimize the defects inherent in both systems to create a new system (see my first round for a brief discussion). Socialism has been more successfull when enacted alongside democratic ideals and capitalism. When grouped together as such, citizens are granted social and economic freedom, yet they have the added bonus of a guaruntee of a minimum standard of living. Pro Claims: "Capitalism does not need socialism." REBUTTAL: Capitalism needs regulation in order to prevent the emergence of oligarchy. It requires regulation to prevent the exploitation and oppression of the lower and middle classes. Pro Claims: "Socialism rewards failure and irresponsibility and punishes success. Capitalism does just the opposite." REBUTTAL: Pro is grossly overgeneralizing and again provides no support for his claim. Providing people with the basic necessities of life can hardly be deemed a 'reward' for their failure. A more accurate description might be that socialism helps maintain order by ensuring that all citizens have access to basic necessities. Capitalism, on the other hand, would allow failures to starve on the streets. This is not conducive to stability and order. Pro Claims: "I will use Cap and Trade and the Global Warming scare as examples." REBUTTAL: Not all socialists believe in Cap and Trade. Not all socialists believe in man-made climate change. Some capitalists believe in both. Therefore, your anecdote is irrelevent. Pro Claims: "I would say that the US is closer to Communism than any of the above." REBUTTAL: This is such an outlandish claim with no supporting evidence that I don't even know where to begin. Pro utilizes an anti-socialism propaganda video to support his case. I will not go over the film piece by piece (after all, I am debating Sadolite, not 'Bored as Hell Videos'). Suffice it to say, the video uses oversimplification, overgeneralization, and selective fact representation to 'prove' its point. Pro Claims: That Obama is a socialist. He further claims that Obama is responsible for the economic crisis. He further claims: "The stock market has lost nearly 3 trillion in wealth sence he took office and announced his plans of Socializing just about everything under the sun." REBUTTAL: Obama is a progressive. Obama inherited the economic crisis, which began in September 2008 - Obama was elected in November and not sworn in until January. To blame this crisis on Obama is absurd. ------------ DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM AFFIRMED My resolution stands uncontested: Moderate Socialism is not a step backwards in human evolution. 1. Social Freedom The Democratic Socialist nations of Europe surpass the U.S. in social freedom by UN statistics, and are tied with the US by US statistics. Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France rank in the top 10 on the 'Human Freedom Index.' The United States is conspicuously absent from this list. (Source: 'Human Freedom Index,' Human Development Report, United Nations Development Programme Report) Not that the U.S. is particularly unfree. A similar statistic put together in the U.S. (Freedom House) places the U.S. on precisely the same level in human freedom. All 10 of the UN list (except Germany and Belgium), the U.S., and a number of other nations both socialist and capitalist are given the same score. (Source: "Freedom in the World," Freedom House. http://www.infoplease.com...) 2. Economic Freedom The Democratic Socialist nations of Europe are not very far behind in terms of economic freedom either. All of the countries listed above can be found in the top 30 in the Index of Economic Freedom. The majority of them can be found within the top 20. The U.S. ranks sixth. (Index of Economic Freedom, http://www.heritage.org...) 3. Democracy Many of the Democratic Socialist nations of Europe rank above the US in the Democracy Index. Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Luxemburg rank in the top 10. The US lags behind iwth a ranking of 18. (Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2008: http://a330.g.akamai.net...) ------------- CONCLUSION Pro has not supported any of his claims with facts or evidence of any kind (save for a propaganda video). Pro has not addressed my argument in favor of moderate socialism. In fact, he only mentions moderate socialism in passing. Pro has claimed that socialism never works and is always a step backwards. Unfortunately he has failed to reconcile these claims with successes of Democratic Socialism in the countries of Scandinavia and western Europe. To win this debate, Pro will need to explain why these countries that share similar or greater per capita GDP (PPP); Social and Economic Freedom; and Democracy in relation to the U.S. are somehow a step behind. Good luck in the final round.