To me, socialism is the government taking all or part of the money, not the property, and then giving everyone back what they need.

Otto Von Bismark is basically the father of modern, organized public welfare systems.  He was also a firm supporter of the Imperial government of Germany and staunchly opposed to socialism.  He observed that most people in the socialist movement didn't actually care about the classism and redistribution of wealth; they just wanted to know that when they're too old or too sick to work that they'll still be ok.  So he realized he could neuter the socialist movement if he just gave people the social safety net.  And so he did.

The point being that you can provide social services without being socialist, and in fact it can be used a tool to keep socialists from getting too powerful.  And who knows, maybe someday you'll be too old or too sick to work too.


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