Jade

There are various degrees of socialism. I would argue that the common understanding of “social democrat” does not include public ownership of means of production. People have called me a social democrat. Maybe I am, maybe not. I do not advocate public ownership of most means of production. Let the free market figure a lot of things out. But there are times when government intervention is necessary — and that intervention should be done with democratic due process.

Canada’s public health care system has been called socialist by many commentators in the US. I would agree that it is socialist. A significant part of our economy is under direct government control, maybe 15%! That “investment” is more than buying a pipeline or oil company or shipyard. Where I do disagree is that this socialist action will eventually revert its people to some kind of barbarism — which is the obvious conclusion to many right-wing philosophers.

Communists were not treated fairly in the 1920s in Canada and the US. The communist party was more or less shamed out of existence in the 1950s. It’s hard to blame socialists for that.

Socialism does not equal barbarism!