Yes, I know, you hate capitalism. We all get that message loud and clear. The problem with that approach is that it is unrealistic. Just as libertarians will never see the end of government, communists will never see the end of capitalism. Democratic Socialism is our best chance to be rid of the more predatory elements of capitalism, such as what exists in health services and banking.
You are literally the first actual communist I have ever met. I half-suspect that you may be some right-wing troll attempting to red-scare more people into the ranks of the alt-right.
Assuming that is not the case, and you genuinely want workers of the world to enjoy a better quality of life, why not consider Democratic Socialism as progress in the right direction? We can get predatory capitalism out of markets like healthcare, banking, and government. Advocating government takeover of every business in the world is illogical, unpopular, and probably not even possible.
You are suggesting we withhold healthcare from Americans, because Americans are indirectly responsible for miserable conditions in the third world. As an American, with a family to take care of, I can't really get behind that. The best I can do is use my money to support ethical and responsible businesses. I use a credit union, not a bank. I buy my food from a co-op instead of a supermarket. I power my home with renewable energy. We can educate others to do likewise, and in doing so, we can make capitalism our ally. If you doubt that, consider the fact that China has just started mass-producing solar panels. Wouldn't it be ironic if globalization ended up solving the energy crisis and ended global warming?
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"communists will never see the end of capitalism."
ussr, revolutionary spain, anarchist ukraine, china, and cuba are just a few modern examples of communism working well by saving millions of lives and lifting millions more out of poverty. Also, just saying "it won't work because I say so" isn't an argument.
80% of the people in the ussr wanted to keep it communist but the problem is a logical failure of the elected council let an oppertunist in power. Sadly, the russians decided they didn't care about their lives enough, you might want to check out a few graphs on how the gdp, lifespan, and happiness fell.
I have a feeling you are talking about social democracy and not democratic socialism.
" I use a credit union, not a bank. I buy my food from a co-op instead of a supermarket. I power my home with renewable energy. "
congrats, that doesn't change anything.
All of the examples you gave were either catastrophic failures or countries that are now gravitating away from communism.
Socialist democracies have a competitive advantage in the global marketplace, so countries with competent leadership are choosing that particular form of government. Too bad there is no competent leadership here in America. Maybe some day.
I am absolutely certain that using my money responsibly makes a difference. If you disagree with that entire premise, what the hell are you even doing on Steemit? Seriously, you use your money to support people that you agree with, and you flag people that you feel deserve to suffer consequences for being Nazi scumbags. (Awesome job flagging that Nazi btw. I can point you in the direction of other Nazis if you want to flag some more.) My point here is that you are using and participating in a form of capitalism right here, and that proves capitalism is a tool that can be used for good.
"Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi
"Just as libertarians will never see the end of government"
please don't tell me you mean the right wing, because that word originally referred to leftist. Again, I have the examples of revolutionary Spain and Ukraine.
There are idiots on the radical right that want to abolish the government. There are idiots on the left that want to abolish capitalism.
It's funny. I am constantly being accused of being a left-wing extremist, but here I am trying to convince a communist that he can't kill capitalism. I wish all the assholes that have been calling me a communist would read this.
#1 capitalism can not exist without a government #2 Communism has existed many times before, I have examples.
You are stupid.
It may have worked before, but times change. Globalization is a thing now, and socialist democracies are winning the game.
Capitalism can not exist without government, and in a globalized economy, government can not exist without capitalism.
If you are going to resort to insults and personal attacks, please do better than "You are stupid."
"socialist democracies "
socialist democracies are where the workers control the means of production through democracy lmao
"and in a globalized economy, government can not exist without capitalism."
no, they can not exist without trade
In a globalized economy, capitalism and trade are one and the same. The only way around that would be to not participate in any trade with capitalists. Good luck with that.
capitalism includes private ownership of the means of production, in other words "capital".
The name is literally based off of it. You have no understanding of the economic system you try and defend.
"The only way around that would be to not participate in any trade with capitalists. "
actually the capitalists tend to embargo every socialist country, to hurt its economy.
If socialism doesn't work why did the US try to assassinate Fidel Castro 700 times?
Man, I get it. There are some nasty people out there. They use capitalism to hurt others. That doesn't mean all capitalists are responsible for the atrocities committed by the bad actors. There are good capitalists out there. They are our allies in the struggle. They offer resources that we may not be able to win without, so it is foolish to turn them away. Political purism only helps our enemies divide and conquer us.
capitalism rewards greed. Capitalism is directly responsible for what comes out of that.
Greed is it's own reward. Capitalism is just the vehicle that connects the greed to the material. The responsibility falls on the individual actor.
This paper by Albert Eisenstein addresses why that is wrong and stupid.
https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/
"There are good capitalists out there. "
capitalism is a system of oppression, it can not exist without death and imperialism.
I bought groceries at WinCo foods today. The only death and imperialism I saw was in the meat department, but we can debate veganism another day. Seriously though, WinCo is pretty awesome. They are 100% employee owned. They take care of their people, and share the profits and workload equally.
I'll admit they are hard to find, but there really are good capitalists out there. I like to consider myself one of them.
20 million die of poverty a year. Up to 90% of some crops are thrown away simply because they don't look good enough to sell in a first world country's market. We produce (30%?) more food than we need to survive as a species, and yet millions starve.
That's the death.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/
They wouldn't be too poor to afford their own food if capitalism could survive without imperialism.
"I'll admit they are hard to find, but there really are good capitalists out there. "
You uphold a system that has been proven kills 2.5 times per capita than the worst propaganda even says about communism.
You are delusional or evil, I don't care which.
"You are literally the first actual communist I have ever met"
really? Our smallest groups have thousands of people.
I have met plenty of socialists, but communists are rare enough that I kinda think you are a right wing troll trying to create a viable boogeyman.