Socialism

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Beehaw's community for socialists, communists, anarchists, and non-authoritarian leftists (this means anti-capitalists) of all stripes. A place for all leftist and labor news and discussion, as long as you're nice about it.

Non-socialists are welcome to come to learn, though it's hard to get to in-depth discussions if the community is constantly fighting over the basics. We ask that non-socialists please be respectful and try not to turn this into a "left vs right" debate forum by asking leading questions or by trying to draw others into a fight.

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What would your perfect system look like? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by TheBaldness@beehaw.org to c/socialism@beehaw.org

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I'm posting this in Socialism, so the obvious answer is that most people here would think socialism is the perfect system. But what do you mean by socialism?

Most Scandinavian countries are social democracies with regulated capitalist economies, progressive taxation and strong social programs. People who live in countries like this, Finland for instance, are consistently rated as some of the happiest people in the world. What would your perfect system look like? Try to give some details.

I identify as a capitalist who thinks government should provide things that are vital, like healthcare, education, military, etc. I also think the government should take the initiative on matters vital to modern life and national security. For instance, baseline energy generation, smart grid energy distribution, a national public data network (that private companies could lease bandwidth on, like the US phone system used to be), funding scientific and medical research in order to put the results in the public domain. I don't think anyone making less than median income should have to pay any taxes. Taxes would be phased in progressively on income above the median.

Those are some of my ideas. I'd like to hear some of yours.

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[–] cakeistheanswer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

I'd just like to have an honest conversation about the minimum standards every human being is entitled to, and then deliver and expand that, to everyone. These days I'm not picky how. The Nordic model is fine I guess, but it's going to make compromises, and those aren't always good ones. For instance I don't think capital had any business being tied to necessities like food, but money is still the easiest way to ration it. UBI would be a decent start.

Im afraid technical models are in short supply, but if you want a philosophical model it's the fundamental orientation towards positive social obligations I'm after. I can't find too many recent examples, they tend to emerge out of conflicts. For one I'm sure doesn't work everywhere due to unique circumstances check out Rojava, the grannies carry out patrol with AKs because that's what their precarious society demands. The podcast 'the women's war' was fascinating.

It's funny you bring up the phone company, because it's a great illustrator. It connected a country with subsides (sometimes over barbed wire), but in the end anything but it's original purpose got locked behind bell labs iron grip until it was broken up. We wouldn't have the modern Internet without both of those things happening, along with some Captain crunch whistles. Not every construction benefits from being totally institutionalized forever and ever amen.

The ideal is that everyone is fed, clothed, housed, receives medical care and is educated I'm totally open at this point on the how, all I know for certain is capitalism didn't have the answer despite the greatest wave of prosperity the modern world has known.