StewA@aol.com wrote: I really don't know what world you're living in. In my world almost all the nations that called themselves socialist no longer do so- and those that still do are probably headed for capitalism. In my world all the labor and social-democratic parties that once advocated a moderate version of socialism no longer do (they all favor the free market.) And in almost every country that once boasted of a welfare state - that welfare state is in a state of retreat and collapse. In our own country there has been a major reduction in social programs and the military is now seen as the government way of dealing with social problems - let the poor become soldiers. Anyway JW - that's the world I live in - now tell me about your world which I gather is much the better one. JW reply: In your original post, Stew, you claimed the worldwide defeat of socialism. Perhaps your view of socialism is much narrower than mine, or you historical envelope considerably smaller. In my world there has been considerable progress in implementing socialist policies, even in capitalist countries, over the last 150 years more or less. That some of these programs have failed, that some are being torn apart and either discarded or mutilated (maybe mutated) in a right wing reformation hardly constitutes the defeat of socialism. It may constitute a regressive period in the development of socialism. Whether a society calls itself socialist or not, if it has socialist features then socialism to some degree is alive and kicking there. In my very real world we still have single user pay, comprehensive socialized healthcare (the kind that progessives in the US only dream about), we have a single, publicly owned automobile insurance agency which has a legal monopoly, public highways, public schools, a publicly owned hydro-electric company that delivers some of the cheapest power in North America. We have public universities whose tuition rates have been frozen for about five years despite free enterprise whining to let the market set the rate, and the list goes on. It might not be the worker's paradise, but it is a far cry from an unregulated, Darwinian free market society. So, I would say that your obituary notice for socialism is a bit premature, at least in the world as I see it. -- Jerry West Editor/publisher/janitor ---------------------------------------------------- THE RECORD News and Views from Nootka Sound & Canada's West Coast An independent, progressive regional publication http://www.island.net/~record/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 01/02/01 EST