Philosophy Now Forum

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Democratic socialism - The Unsuspecting Political Philosophy That Saves You, Me, and the World?






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Actually, who here at The PhilosophyNow Forums doesn't agree with this framework?


Democratic socialism is a political ideology advocating a democratic political system alongside a socialist economic system, involving a combination of political democracy with social ownership of the means of production. Sometimes used synonymously with "socialism", the adjective "democratic" is added to distinguish democratic socialism from Marxist-Leninist Communism.

Democratic socialism is distinguished from both the Soviet model of centralized socialism and from social democracy. This distinction arose from the allegedly authoritarian form of socialism that emerged in the Soviet Union in the 20th century.

Democratic socialism rejects the social democratic view of reform through state intervention within capitalism, seeing capitalism as incompatible with the democratic values of freedom, equality and solidarity. From this perspective, democratic socialists believe that the issues inherent to capitalism can only be solved by a transition from capitalism to socialism - by superseding private property with some form of social ownership; and that any attempt to address the economic contradictions of capitalism through reforms will only cause problems to emerge elsewhere in the economy.

However, "democratic socialism" is sometimes used as a synonym for social democracy, where "social democracy" refers to support for political democracy, regulation of the economy, and a welfare state.

There is no exact definition of democratic socialism. Some forms of democratic socialism overlap with social democracy, while many forms reject social democratic reformism in favor of more transformative methods, while some forms overlap with Revolutionary Socialism. The "democratic" element may refer to extending principles of democracy in the economy (such as through cooperatives or workplace democracy), or it may refer to support for a multi-party parliamentary democracy.






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Reasonably uncorrupted democracy, functioning at a humanish 70% efficiency, will inevitably lead to socialism, as more and more of the people demand that their requirements be met. That's why the electoral systems of capitalist countries are regularly hijacked by the economic elite and turned to serve their own purposes. Then they're free to do business as they please, which invariably leads to a major depression and/or political breakdown and/or war, which requires government response, so the elite relinquish the reins to competent administrators, who then institute reform and regulation so the state can function again. Until they grow confident enough to hijack it again.

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...so, yo're in the Bernie Sander's camp?



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......................................................wow, you're a stickler for details.




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...or continue to morph from totalitarian and fascist capitalists into a more Democratic Socialistic society?





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GREAT! So...where is it that I actually vote for one of them there AEP politicians?


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Bill Wiltrack wrote:.


...so, yo're in the Bernie Sander's camp?



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Wrong country. He's the last of the species, isn't he? The last political leader I could get behind died a couple years ago, at which point I switched off. Just a passive observer now.

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I think I'm with you...


I'm switched-off but I still feel a strange mixture of horror, disbelief, & fear. Yet, the overall effect I experience is numbness. Weird.




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Bill Wiltrack wrote:GREAT! So...where is it that I actually vote for one of them there AEP politicians?

Well, first of all, you've got to get your head out of your ass. I realize this will be an exceedingly difficult extraction, but once it's accomplished, you'll be ready for step No. 2.

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Wait a minute..you KNOW I will never get past step number one.




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Bill Wiltrack wrote:.


I think I'm with you...


I'm switched-off but I still feel a strange mixture of horror, disbelief, & fear. Yet, the overall effect I experience is numbness. Weird.




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We'll be gone before the really big shit-storms make landfall. But it's hard to break a lifetime habit of caring.