So.. who has an issue with the US becoming a socialist country? If so, why?
Just curious :)

I don't have an issue with it because the US isn't becoming a socialist country.

lol.. thats not what some people say. Basically "Obama is going to run this country into the ground by making it a socialist country" I hear a lot. So I'm curious what would be so horrible about that.

That and the abortion issue seem to be people's main problem with him from what I've seen.

You hear that a lot and them you remember half the people you run into in America are HURP DURP retarded.

HAHA fair enough. ;-D

What exactly does socialism really mean? I'm a Brit so I only understand the terms labour, conservative and liberal democrat ;)

The real definition of socialism is an economic theory which, in laymans terms, means everyone gets equal pay and resources.

In American-Conservative land, it means "DEY TURK ALL URR MURNEYZZZ HURR DURKUR DURR!"

So a basic form of communism? Ugh no thanks!

not necessarily.. if done correct, i think socialism might actually work.. i mean consider this:

EVERYONE has the right to healthcare
EVERYONE has the right to a proper education
Barely, if any homeless
There isn't the huge barrier that there is now between rich and poor.

i agree that it is a form of communism but there are some differences.

i dunno.. Denmark seems to have it right.. *shrug*

Oh I agree with access to health care and education, 100%. But I have aspirations of being rich. As long as I can still be rich, then I'm all for it ;)

Actually - communism is a form of socialism...socialism is not a form of communism. Socialism is more broad.

A good example that explains the exact relationship between "communism" and "socialism" would be to examine the two terms "Catholic" and "Christian". Obviously, though they share a relationship, they are not interchangeable. You could for example, say that the Pope is a "Christian". But you could not say that Billy Graham is a "Catholic".

Basically the difference is this:

SOCIALISM - From each according to his ability, to each according to his deeds.

COMMUNISM - From each according to his abiliy, to each according to his needs.

The thing is, we have obstacles other, much smaller countries don't have to worry about. We have a GIANT number of people in this country as well as states' rights to worry about.

The sheer number of people in this country alone as well as the government's ability to do anything right is keeping us from having a successful socialist state. Our only choice really is to stick to the loose capitalism we have now. It works.

the only thing i'll disagree with in your statement is that what we're doing now is "working".

i hardly call the mess that we're in now working. I s'pose what we're doing now is surviving... merely, at that.

Trust me, the system we have now is working pretty efficiently. Someone fucked up along the road and started spending money we don't have on things we didn't want to spend it on. Otherwise, we have a system where there's an incentive to work harder for a greater reward, which in turn is helping the economy. It's a win-win. It's been working ever since it was invented.

everyone gets equal pay and resources

Isn't that communism?

Yeah, you're right. I got confused.

I mean reallocated pay and resources, not equal.

I did take this from Wikipedia. lol.

"Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended.[1][2][3]

Most socialists share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, creates an unequal society, does not provide equal opportunities for everyone to Maximize their potentialities[4] and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public.[5]"

Basically socialism is the opposite of capitalism.

Americans keep claiming that the UK is a socialist country. But we're certainly a capitalist country, and from what you're saying we can't be both.

(I'd always thought of communism as the opposite of capitalism, not socialism, but I don't really know)

Capitalism is still alive in the US, and I don't see it going anywhere any time soon. People say that about Obama because they like to scare other people into not liking him, and claiming that he's a socialist is "scary" for some people. It could only be worse if they called him a communist. lol. Lots of us remember and lived through the Cold War. Calling someone a communist back then is the equivalent of calling someone a "terrorist" today. lol.

Oh, they've called him a terrorist too. Think of any major political insult invented in the past hundred years. It's been used on Obama.

How about Nazi, has that been used?!

Ahh I love Obama. I'm not very keyed up on his policies, but he's just uber cool.

Oh dude, go check out the videos from the 9/12 tea party protests. They called him a Nazi at LEAST 350 times.

This thread has promise. Should be quite interesting.

i agree.. thats why i posted it ;-D