Good answer! The countries you name are all also democracies too, if i'm not mistaken. And, they also all have essentially capitalist economies ...which goes to show these concepts/labels are not mutually exclusive, but are a matter of degree and perception (or prejudice).
At 06:08 PM 10/28/2009, Dan wrote: >Those countries which have a much higher degree of socialism then the United >States. These countries being, Sweden, France, England, Norway. In fact, most >of the prosperous European states. You must remember that our own country has >a moderate degree of socialism as is evident in our educational system, fire >departments, police departments, and military establishment. > >Dan > >At 11:43 AM 10/28/2009, bob quinn said something that elicited my response: > >>Hi Dan, >> >>Just curious, what successful socialist country would you hold up as an >>example? >> >>At 08:32 PM 10/27/2009, Dan wrote: >>>As John has said before, democracy is nothing more than mob rule. Our >>>country is not a democracy but rather a representative form of government. >>>That is, we elect people to do our bidding. The trouble is greed gets in the >>>way. So our representatives stop representing ourselves and start >>>representing those with the most money. This is where capitalism comes into >>>play. For some reason the majority of people in this country love this >>>system. They love the American way which is like a giant game of Monopoly. A >>>few get people all the money and of course all the power. The people with >>>all the power elect those who in turn see to it that those in power, stay in >>>power. >>> >>>A much more humane system of governance would be a form of all the >>>socialism. Which is what most people in the world use as a form of >>>government. This country is afraid of socialism. They think socialism is the >>>same as communism. Communism is not the bugaboo that people seem think it >>>is. The trouble with Communism is, it doesn't work. But it is a great idea. >>>Everyone does their share of the work and reaps their share of the profits. >>>But of course, there is always one or two slackers, and then three or four >>>slackers, and so on and so on until you have a few people doing most of the >>>work with the resulting lack of profits, produce, etc.. Unfortunately, I >>>guess that's common nature. >>> >>>This is where socialism came in. People in socialist countries work far >>>fewer hours than they do in strictly capitalistic countries. Because they >>>don't work as hard they generally are much happier. The government provides >>>them with all the necessities of life. Such as; education, medical care, a >>>good infrastructure, police force, fire department, etc. Of course, they are >>>heavily taxed. But it does not seem to bother them as all their basic needs >>>are provided for. How many people do you know that waste their excess money? >>>I have neighbors that don't have a pot to piss in yet they have four cars in >>>their driveway. I have neighbors that fight to see who can get the biggest >>>pool or most expensive car or - well you get the point. >>> >>>Okay I'm done ranting. >>> >>>Dan
