Whats wrong with socialism?

proletariat2
Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:48:41 +0000

Why don’t you define exactly what you mean by socialism (or Marxism, if that’s the case)?



Well, I guess it depends on context. What I’ve been using here is a more radical definition: An economic system in which all property is communally owned (and may refer to a government used to keep that economic system in place). I’m not talking about France, nor am I talking about any typical democratic socialism. A lot of time, I refer to “some socialists,” which may include figures such as Marx, Gandhi, Fourier, Goldman, or Debs, who all have pretty different views. So yeah, it’s complicated.



Secondly, when I said “individuals need to fail” I certainly didn’t mean that children should be left to starve in the streets. I meant it in a Darwinian sense. If each creature that ever lived were given an equal chance to reproduce regardless of genetic deficiencies, what sort of world would we live in? My bet is, not a very good one. The analogy also holds true for businesses and even ideas.



Right, but in socialism, the idea of failure is different. I can’t really explain unless you can explain how exactly someone can be caused to fail in a Darwinian sense.



Firstly, when I said “rational people” I meant economically rational people.



There’s a huge debate in economics as to whether people are actually economically rational, and most people say no. Even hugely free-market figures. As I mentioned earlier, some free-market theories use economic irrationality as the basis of their operation.