We live in the age of AI. Government workers that do menial tasks can be replaced. The governments primary job in a socialist society is to ensure everyone has basic needs met. Various levels of nationalization can exist run by workers. With technology, government programs can run leaner and more efficient than ever, and ensuring that the maximum amount of dollars reach beneficiaries with little to no waste, and much lower overhead cost.
What kind of socialism are you referring to? That’s a pretty wide net you’re casting.
Social democracy (which is technically still capitalism)? Democratic socialism with decentralized authority? Anarchism? Union socialism?
Or are you just looking at examples of Stalinism, Maoism and Marxist-Leninist socialism? Libertarian socialism?
Do you realize the price of change is human life with any society? Capitalism has cost countless lives and the death toll is increasing.
That would be on the electorate voting for that. In a socialist democratic government, the electorate has the power to recall officials anytime with a vote, for unsatisfactory performance and wastefulness. Any fraud, waste and abuse (which currently was estimated at around $135 billion dollars, out of a total budget of $7.1 trillion dollars), accounts for 1.9% of the national budget.
The top two in vulnerability to waste are Medicare and Medicaid, of which a significant portion is payments made to fraudulent payees. The DoD is right up there too, in terms of waste.
It’s VERY hyperbolic to say government programs are incredibly wasteful. 1.9% waste out of the national budget is pretty impressive. Still, there is room for improvement, but if citizens don’t have access to direct democratic process, versus a corrupt Republican capitalist system, change is an uphill battle.
I’d rather pay half my income in tax to ensure everyone, including my family, the basic dignity and survival of food, housing, education and medical care.
Then it’ll be in the hands of the states. That’s the last safeguard we have.
It would take most people rising up in protest and resisting to make this happen.
Even on a non-violent level, we’re going to have to fight. Noncompliance works when implementing things like general strikes. Conservatives will buckle when they’re having medical crises and are faced with understaffed hospitals. Or they can’t buy brisket at the local grocery store, because they had to close due to understaffing.
Even if they hate to admit it, were interdependent on one another. If we’re refusing to do our part, that’s going to have a negative impact on them. Most of them aren’t as self-sufficient as they believe they are, even if they own guns.
Technically, you can eat some flowers. Like figs and squash flowers.
Nonetheless, growing flowers works off the same principle as growing other plants. Proper conditions are needed for success.
It does seem like a fun hobby. But not one for me. I live in a second-story condo and my balcony gets too much sunlight. It even scorched an aloe plant I set out, and by the time I put it in the partial shade, it was too late.
I did have success with cherry tomatoes. The 10 my single plant produced made a nice snack after months of waiting.
Which is why it’s not going to solve the problem of a food crisis right now. Farming is a skill that takes practice.
All it took was a single record-heat day to wipe out my coworkers flowers.
Trump doesn’t care about the UN or international law.
Or any laws, really, unless he’s using them to oppress people he doesn’t like.
There is no class in this system. There’s only workers and those who work for the government only get the same share as those who do other jobs. That’s why you need a system of strong laws and regulations, created by workers, to keep things in check. Those who are corrupt or abuse their power are immediately removed from power.
Thanks for the correction😅
By government, I mean democratic government that represents workers.
The only way I’d support this is if the government owned the means of production, not the wealthy elite.
Something something constitutional republic
Funny how we champion “Democracy” when our system never really was one.
I wish they would realize in the face of death, wealth means nothing. However, one can live in a better world overall, when they realize a rising tide raises all sails. The inevitably of capitalism, at least on the path it’s currently on, will spell disaster for the majority of people.
It is definitely hard to find people with integrity. But with people like Mamdani turning down a pay raise, or the former president of Uruguay only accepting a pittance and living in poverty, it gives me hope there are people out there in the world with principles. There just needs to be more. A “public servant” should be exactly that. They only serve the public interest, not to line their pockets.
My options: Vote blue in a general election (which I’d likely have to do).
Primaries: In this state, I get the choice of establishment dem or Republican, neither represent progressive values in a hotly contested tested purple state). My choice of candidates is restricted. There is no other choice than write in, or going with the choices already chosen for me. There was no one else on my primary ballot as a registered dem voter.
So yep, I could’ve wrote in Ronald McDonald for this last primary, and it wouldn’t have made any difference. There are more than enough moderates in this purple state to put the establishment guy on the ballot. I’ll be holding my nose to vote for the establishment guy, because that’s at least better than the “other guy.”
And that’s the state of politics in a battleground state. Always have to vote for the lesser of two evils, not for someone actually any good.
So if my centrist guy gets voted and helps hold back the rest of the party, don’t blame me I guess?
It’s probably because the party that’s supposed to be left of center isn’t actually left of center, and they take their campaign funds from the same donor class as the fascists?
You can still vote blue in general elections, but don’t settle for scraps in the primaries. The DSA is starting to gain traction from the ground up. This is what we need.
There is no need for competition in a socialist society. You’re trying to view this through a capitalist lens. Socialism isn’t capitalism. People still need and demand goods in a socialist system, and production is driven by this demand. The difference is there is no bourgeois or elite class profiting from the surplus value of goods or services workers produce.