johnskylar:

slide3blog:

johnskylar:

…this is a bad meme. Like so many memes I’ve seen from Occupy Democrats.

Why?

Because people totally labeled FDR a socialist. His policies were incredibly left wing socialist, and there was constant backlash and criticism using precisely that language.

And yet these policies–these socialist policies–worked. They worked and they still work. Because democratic socialism can work when it is implemented by responsible leadership and checked by the electorate.

The problem is that when people use the label socialist negatively, then and now, they mean “authoritarian communism,” and this meme supports and furthers that wrong-headed idea. Socialism isn’t a bad word. Socialism has saved this country’s ass more than a few times, when appropriately blended with and tempered by the freedoms that we hold dear.

The problem isn’t socialism. It’s the irresponsible use of power. Don’t further the idea that socialism is the problem.

Use socialism responsibly. Talk to your local electorate about whether socialism is right for you.

In many other countries, including Canada, what Sanders is promoting is referred to as “social democracy,” not “socialism,” since social democracy is a capitalist system with policies that ameliorate its excesses (i.e. universal health care, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, labour standards, etc). I have never understood why Sanders would refer to these policies as socialism (since in a socialist system the means of production (factories, farms, etc)  would all be publicly owned, and that is not what he is talking about at all).

It is also called democratic socialism, which is how Sanders describes himself. He isn’t a Marxist, though, which is the specific brand of socialism where all of the means of production are publicly owned and (in theory) they are so collectively owned that an actual state is no longer necessary.

…yeah, I am pretty sure Marx was a science fiction writer.

This is the worst description of Marxism I have ever seen.

Good christ.

Worker ownership is NOT the same thing as state “public” ownership, you’re getting Marxism confused with Stalinism.

Jesus.