Democratic Socialism - Part 1
If you've ever wondered about "Democratic Socialism," please read this!
In the last democratic debate, a moderator asked the candidates if they worried about one of them running under the label of a 'Democratic Socialist.' Most of the candidates did not respond one way or another, except for one who found it "troubling." But, it doesn't really matter if other candidates are supportive of Democratic Socialism - it matters if We the People are supportive of it - and right now, I think it's important that we all understand what it even means.
See, my husband is not a Bernie Sanders supporter. He thinks that Bernie needs to do a better job of explaining Democratic Socialism, and I agree to some extent, but I also believe that much of Bernie's inspiration probably comes from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was our 32nd President, the one who pulled us out of the Great Depression and got us through WWII. The only president so popular that he was elected to four terms. So it's hard to put a label on Bernie because he really isn't defined by any one thing. He is an Independent.
Since I'm a Bernie supporter, I wanted to do my part to try and help eliminate some reservations that people might have. I put a lot of research into figuring out what Democratic Socialism really is and how it fits in to our history as a country - particularly during those years that set us up to prosper during WWII, leading to the birth of all these Baby Boomers (whose parents could very often manage to raise them on one income - and what a dream that would be).
So anyway, here's my take below:
A social democracy is a mixed economic system. All viable economic systems must be mixed. A fully privatized (capitalist) economy would fail just as quickly as a fully socialized economic system.
Democratic socialism simply means a democracy leaning toward the leftward bound of the private-public ownership spectrum. So for example, let's say there is a really big, important bank. The government would perhaps control 1/3 of that bank and 2/3 would be controlled by private owners. Social Democracies still have strong capitalist economies, but the people have more control over capitalism through the representatives of their government.
Governments gain 1/3 majority (or more) of select private industries (for example, cable or electric companies) that are critical for the health of its citizens or to meet the everyday needs of its people. These shares can be purchased through stock acquisitions made by the government on the open market OR the government can take control of certain industries (like banking) in times of economic crisis. This seems pretty reasonable to me.
So there you go, that is the most straightforward and reasonably short explanation that I've been able to figure out. There are a lot of other really interesting things to say about all this, though, so I hope you will read 'Part 2' linked here: Part 2
In the last democratic debate, a moderator asked the candidates if they worried about one of them running under the label of a 'Democratic Socialist.' Most of the candidates did not respond one way or another, except for one who found it "troubling." But, it doesn't really matter if other candidates are supportive of Democratic Socialism - it matters if We the People are supportive of it - and right now, I think it's important that we all understand what it even means.
See, my husband is not a Bernie Sanders supporter. He thinks that Bernie needs to do a better job of explaining Democratic Socialism, and I agree to some extent, but I also believe that much of Bernie's inspiration probably comes from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was our 32nd President, the one who pulled us out of the Great Depression and got us through WWII. The only president so popular that he was elected to four terms. So it's hard to put a label on Bernie because he really isn't defined by any one thing. He is an Independent.
Since I'm a Bernie supporter, I wanted to do my part to try and help eliminate some reservations that people might have. I put a lot of research into figuring out what Democratic Socialism really is and how it fits in to our history as a country - particularly during those years that set us up to prosper during WWII, leading to the birth of all these Baby Boomers (whose parents could very often manage to raise them on one income - and what a dream that would be).
So anyway, here's my take below:
A social democracy is a mixed economic system. All viable economic systems must be mixed. A fully privatized (capitalist) economy would fail just as quickly as a fully socialized economic system.
Democratic socialism simply means a democracy leaning toward the leftward bound of the private-public ownership spectrum. So for example, let's say there is a really big, important bank. The government would perhaps control 1/3 of that bank and 2/3 would be controlled by private owners. Social Democracies still have strong capitalist economies, but the people have more control over capitalism through the representatives of their government.
Governments gain 1/3 majority (or more) of select private industries (for example, cable or electric companies) that are critical for the health of its citizens or to meet the everyday needs of its people. These shares can be purchased through stock acquisitions made by the government on the open market OR the government can take control of certain industries (like banking) in times of economic crisis. This seems pretty reasonable to me.
So there you go, that is the most straightforward and reasonably short explanation that I've been able to figure out. There are a lot of other really interesting things to say about all this, though, so I hope you will read 'Part 2' linked here: Part 2
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