DeWinter wrote:I think what tends to annoy me is hat we've tried Socialism in this country twice, and the end result has been the same. National bankruptcy, debt, and the rise of extremists.
How more of the same is going to cure all that is beyond me.
We've never had a socialist system in the UK. It's been tried in Eastern Europe, but not in the UK.
Let me explain.
The solution (for the UK - I won't talk for other countries) is a balance between socialism and capitalism. I want the socialised healthcare provided by the NHS, the safety-net of a benefits system should I lose my job, and a degree of regulation of what businesses can do. I also want an environment where entrepreneurs can start new businesses and grow those businesses to provide employment for other people. It's not pure socialism or pure capitalism, but a balance between the two.
And this is what all 3 major UK parties subscribe to. Even Thatcher's government knew they couldn't get rid of the NHS, and even Callaghan's government knew they couldn't nationalise every corner shop. Where they argue is where to set the midpoint of the balance between the two.
Blair's government (and Brown's) is not
socialist. If you think it is then you need to read up on what socialism is. A socialist government would
not have sold off parts of the NHS into private ownership and would instead have nationalised all businesses, introduced collective farms etc. Instead the Blair/Brown government is exactly as I described all 3 main UK parties above - taking some aspects of capitalism and some of socialism, and mixing them together. And again, the
balance of socialist/capitalist (and, more pertinently for this government, authoritarian/liberal) is where the argument lies.
This mix between socialism & capitalism, authoritarianism and libertarianism, is the only way to provide a working system. Any extremist who subscribes to a "pure" system (whether it be socialism, libertarianism, capitalism etc) has spent too long sitting in their bedroom alone reading political theory on dodgy websites and not experiencing real life.
