I thought CPig was much more effective in his arguments about socialism…where he started by pretending it was interesting to think about and then dug in like a mule to defend it. Bob and Pig are just tap dancing around the issue on this topic.
Sigh. You guys keep assuming you have some magical power where you can mind-read other people. Sorry to state the obvious, but no one has that superpower, so you can't possibly know if I am "pretending."
As I've said, when I was fresh out of college, I was 100% capitalist. I was 100% free-market. I thought taxes should be close to 0%, and government is the biggest roadblock to innovation.
Then I saw the side-effect of unrestrained capitalism, where profit-maximizing corporations will stay within the legal limit of something (e.g. pollution) and create externalities that the rest of the population has to bear the cost. Or in Oscar Wilde's words, "They know the price of everything, but the value of nothing." Moreover, another side effect is the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer, and the income gap causes a lot of social instability. If it continues unchecked, then at some point, enough people are poor and they will say the system is broken. They will revolt, and the whole system collapse.
So I begin to see why there is a need for welfare. I am still not a fan of it, but I can see why it is necessary in some cases. But I want to learn more. I want to find a happy optimum where we can have a capitalistic society without (or minimize) its negative side effect. I read books on both sides, from those who ask whether capitalism is working, to those who insist that "socialism is destroying America."
And I try to engage with all kinds of people, esp. people like you who demonize socialism. The goal is not to convert them, but to see if together, we can put some brainpower and come up with that optimal point. The primary question is to find that optimal point (between 0% government, or anarchy, to 100% government, where it runs everything). Unfortunately, instead of a stimulating intellectual discussion where we can learn from each other, it's just a bunch of folks in their echo chamber labeling me as a "socialist" or "communist," when they don't even seem to know what socialism is about (except for the monsterized version that they've created in their head).
So to you, I am just "pretending." The irony is, you know nothing about me, and yet you are the one PRETENDING to know everything about my hidden agenda. How laughable is that.
I don't believe the world is black-and-white. There are fifty shades of grey in between, and instead of demonizing, I try to learn by listening to those critic. Try to understand why they are so much against it. Try to see if they offer a better solution to the side effect. That's why the latest books I've checked out from the library are actually arguing
against socialism (see pix). I believe that's how we actually learn.
But whatever. I don't expect you to understand anyway. Keep living in your echo chamber. Keep labelling everyone who doesn't fully agree with you a "socialist" or "communist." Keep assuming they are just pretending. Keep using your superpower to mindread others. You are absolutely right, and you know everything. I am just an idiot who knows that I don't know.
