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Build support for socialism.

According to a Rasmussen poll released last week, 37 percent of Americans under age 30 prefer capitalism, 33 percent prefer socialism and 30 percent are undecided. Among all Americans, 53 percent prefer capitalism, 20 percent prefer socialism and 27 percent are undecided.

Read the whole thing. My students are surely among them. If I got to ask respondents 3 clarifying questions, I would have asked:

  1. What is socialism?
  2. What is capitalism?
  3. What does history show the record of each to be?

2 Responses to “The Republicans Did What the “Socialists” Never Could”

  1. Gabe says:

    Hah Professor Rizzo,

    Last semester while a visiting student in NYC I was in a public speaking class where we had an impromptu speech to talk about socialism versus capitalism. The kids in the class were complaining the subject was too hard because they couldn’t really define either.

    Gabe

  2. Diego Méndez says:

    1. Capitalism is an economic system in which wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are privately owned and controlled rather than state owned and controlled. (Wikipedia)

    Capitalism, applied to healthcare, education, and infrastructure, effectively means: education only for those who(se parents) can afford it; healthcare only for those who(se parents) can afford it; infrastructure only if, when and where, profitable for private capital.

    2. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by economic equality for all individuals, with an egalitarian method of compensation. (Wikipedia)

    Socialism, applied to healthcare, education and infrastructure, effectively means: education for all, quality education for those who excel; healthcare for all; infrastructure only if, where and when, profitable for society.

    3. The record of each on healthcare, education and infrastructure follows.

    All major infrastructure projects all over the world have been built with public financing and either with no expectation of future return on capital (US highways, European railways, major airports, high-speed rails and public transportation networks) or with no real return on capital despite expectations (US railways, US airlines).

    On healthcare, those nations having socialized healthcare (including European social democracies, Canada, Chile, etc. but also Communist Cuba) rank consistently higher than nations having no socialized healthcare (US, most Latin American countries, etc.) on almost every measure of health.

    On education, those nations subsidizing schools and universities (first Germany, then most of Europe and ex-Soviet republics) eliminated analphabetism and created a wide graduate-class faster than those where the system was mostly private (Latin America). In northern US, where higher literacy rates were reached early, it was the Government which established the first universities and mandated towns to provide schoolteachers, making it a publicly provided (hende, Socialist) system. Even today, the US has a socialized education system to a great extent, e.g. some private top universities receive large subsidies.

    As we have seen, in terms of healthcare, education and infrastructure, Socialism is way superior to Capitalism. Those countries ranking higher in the Human Development Index, which is a measure of the wealth, education and healthcare of any given country, have Socialist healthcare, education and infrastructure systems.

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