🚀 go-pugleaf

"vonroach" <hadrainc@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:07v8c09eg2mjo5m1tgbnmgcdf8do47f30j@4ax.com...

> >In a competitive capitalist economy, there will be some who cannot
compete -
> >this is reality.  Disabled, elderly and infirm; children.  You recognize
> >this, right?
>
> Probably not in the same sense as you. Children are the responsibility
> of the family, elderly like wise, disabled - often are not in reality,
> infirm is an ambiguous term.

I see no basic disagreement between us here.

> Suppose you give your definition of socialism, and your plan to `help'
what you identify as `non
> competitors'.

As for the definition, I'm fine with the one that Merriam-Webster provides:

Main Entry: so�cial�ism
Pronunciation: 'sO-sh&-"li-z&m
Function: noun
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or
governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and
distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private
property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of
production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and
communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay
according to work done

Even in expanded definitions, the primary tenet of socialism is that the
"means of production" - i.e. factories, farms, etc. - are owned collectively
by government entities.  This idea doesn't apply to ANYONE that you've used
the term against.

As to what to do to help non-competitors, I believe in the concept of the
social contract - that as we have set up a society in which we compete with
one another for success, there is a collective responsibility to assist
those who cannot compete to have a minimal standard of living and quality of
life.  This is best achieved through public-private partnerships.

-- 
-Mr. N
-------------------------------------------
"I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq
demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience
in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish
the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers."

"The emperor has no clothes.  When are people going to face the reality?
Pull this curtain back."
      -Nancy Pelosi, American Patriot