Socialism: Defended

In an earlier entry, (Paul Broun calls Obama a Marxist) I attempted to briefly explain why Socialism isn't evil.

With all the political commentators fomenting fears that "Obama is a Socialist", others are feeling the need to speak out, too.

In the article Experimenting With Socialism?, Margaret Wiltshire of The Mountain Mail stated:

"Some people a long time ago realized that by living and working together, they would have greater success surviving and improving the quality of their lives. When we speak of those times, we don’t call it socialism. We call it civilization."

"Socialism has made life easier since the first people banded together and moved into a cave for warmth and for safety. Socialism should not be confused with military dictatorships."

In a letter to the editor entitled Democracy's opposite is not socialism, Tom Brandt wrote:

"Though I am not a political expert, and I have NO party affiliation, I did stay at the Holiday Inn Express last month in Indio. The opposite of democracy is not socialism; to me, all government is socialism. Should we disband the Fire and Police Departments? Stop building roads? End the space program? Dump public schools? The opposite of democracy in my mind is a dictatorship. There are many democracies all over the world with socialist agendas that are our allies and partners. In this civilized world, we should all do what we can to benefit society in general, and if you look close, you can almost see 'society' right there in the actual word 'socialism'."

In an article entitled Facing Socialism in America, Gene Messick writes:

Some that are most astounding are from folks who work for local governmental agencies. Clearly, they have a warped notion about what Socialism is. Somehow, they've developed a screwball disconnect with reality."

"Public highways are one of the finest examples of Socialism in America. So are public schools, public parks and public libraries. Not to mention Social Security and Medicare. And police departments and town garbage collections and public health care and so on and so on. Even benefits provided for Congress Members are a form of Socialism."

Back in October Daily Kos ran a blog about this very subject entitled The Time Is Now. It is definitely worth a read.

I have been conducting an interview on behalf of The Modern Left with Brian Moore the 2008 Presidential candidate for Socialist Party USA. He will further explain what Socialism is and what it can mean to people. That interview will hopefully be up sometime this week or early next week.