Current Events > Why are Americans so scared of the word socialism?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It really boggles the mind.

Cold War era propaganda.

because they don't know what it means

conservative rhetoric against Obama regularly called him both communist and socialist
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because it was used by the autocratic leaders of our international rivals for 50 years and all autocratic socialists around the globe developed ties with them in order to support their governments

so we treated all of them the same

it made us needlessly antagonistic towards socialists who believed in democracy among our western allies as well as within our own society
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No one is afraid of the word. People, do, however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.
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Government propaganda being pro capitalism.
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Nomadic View posted...

however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

You just argued against capitalism lmao
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cause of the Cold War. russia was our biggest enemy for decades

Paper_Okami posted...

Nomadic View posted...

however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

You just argued against capitalism lmao

Not true at all. Suggesting such proves you don't know what capitalism is.
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For what the National Socialist Party did in Germany. What happened with Italy. Whats happening in Venezuela. Not more then ten years ago progressives were using Venezuela with progressive celebrities on the best example of good socialism. Now the country is starving and literally eating zoo animals.

Also any country Socialism has been tried.

European homogenous societies can do this because they dont have the population yet and other cultures thats causing them to collapse. Though the refugee crisis is causing this to change also since the Cold War these European nations havent had to have a large standing army due to the fact they lean on America for everything so they can cut defense spending.

Probably because there are many case points throughout history, and people would rather that didn't happen here
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Socialism killed my horse and rode off on my mom.
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McCarthyism
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ArchiePeck posted...

Cold War era propaganda.

It might even go back to the forties, but yeah.
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darkjedilink posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Nomadic View posted...

however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

You just argued against capitalism lmao

Not true at all. Suggesting such proves you don't know what capitalism is.

That is literally how capitalism works. We aren't actually compensated for our labor, we are given numbers that have no value beyond what others say it has and are made to be dependent on them so we have no actual control over our life.
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uwnim posted...

darkjedilink posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Nomadic View posted...

however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

You just argued against capitalism lmao

Not true at all. Suggesting such proves you don't know what capitalism is.

That is literally how capitalism works. We aren't actually compensated for our labor, we are given numbers that have no value beyond what others say it has and are made to be dependent on them so we have no actual control over our life.

wut
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Because I don't feel like living in some garbage country with no upward mobility.

Imagine having your income stagnate when you're 30 years old. What a dream.

I'll continue supporting my right to kick people off my property.
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darkjedilink posted...

uwnim posted...

darkjedilink posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Nomadic View posted...

however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

You just argued against capitalism lmao

Not true at all. Suggesting such proves you don't know what capitalism is.

That is literally how capitalism works. We aren't actually compensated for our labor, we are given numbers that have no value beyond what others say it has and are made to be dependent on them so we have no actual control over our life.

wut

Don't mind me, I'm temporarily insane right now. It will pass.
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uwnim posted...

darkjedilink posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Nomadic View posted...

however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

You just argued against capitalism lmao

Not true at all. Suggesting such proves you don't know what capitalism is.

That is literally how capitalism works. We aren't actually compensated for our labor, we are given numbers that have no value beyond what others say it has and are made to be dependent on them so we have no actual control over our life.

I'm pretty sure you get to choose how you spend your 'compensation'.

You're also free to learn how to not suck and figure out ways to make more of that compensation for less effort.
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Uncle Choad posted...

Because I don't feel like living in some garbage country with no upward mobility.

Imagine having your income stagnate when you're 30 years old. What a dream.

I'll continue supporting my right to kick people off my property.

You want that because you have been conditioned to want a high score in life. In reality money after a point becomes effectively meaningless and the only purpose becomes to use it just to show that you have it.

Kicking people off your property doesn't really have anything to do with economic systems.
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Better question is why do liberals want to pay higher taxes so badly
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DevsBro posted...

Better question is why do liberals want to pay higher taxes so badly

Because if people aren't idiots it is more efficient since you reduce the number of processes involved in providing any particular service. Unfortunately humanity as a whole is rather dumb so things never really work out how they should but idealists exist and so you have people who want more taxes.
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Because people don't like being taxed to death.

This is a stupid topic.

Might as well ask "Why are Americans so scared of the word taxation?"
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hollow_shrine posted...

ArchiePeck posted...

Cold War era propaganda.

It might even go back to the forties, but yeah.

it dates back to the Russian Revolution and the first Red Scare, along with the early American organized labor movement. there are sprinklings of anarchism as well, but the term "socialism" evolved into a catch-all for all of those groups by the time McCarthy took the helm

DevsBro posted...

Better question is why do liberals want to pay higher taxes so badly

I'm from Oklahoma and we need to repair my cities roads, and desperately need to fund our schools. And we've been giving corporate tax breaks to companies like Chesapeake and Devon energy for the past decade or so while our wages and infrastructure stagnates. I'm personally willing to pay for that, because in the long term it will improve the quality of life for me and everyone else who lives here.
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treewojima posted...

hollow_shrine posted...

ArchiePeck posted...

Cold War era propaganda.

It might even go back to the forties, but yeah.

it dates back to the Russian Revolution and the first Red Scare, along with the early American organized labor movement. there are sprinklings of anarchism as well, but the term "socialism" evolved into a catch-all for all of those groups by the time McCarthy took the helm

I thought they were more on communism
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HypnoCoosh posted...

Because people don't like being taxed to death.

Why do they think more taxes would kill them? Would it actually?
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Bloodychess posted...

treewojima posted...

hollow_shrine posted...

ArchiePeck posted...

Cold War era propaganda.

It might even go back to the forties, but yeah.

it dates back to the Russian Revolution and the first Red Scare, along with the early American organized labor movement. there are sprinklings of anarchism as well, but the term "socialism" evolved into a catch-all for all of those groups by the time McCarthy took the helm

I thought they were more on communism

they're basically synonyms in American political lingo

uwnim posted...

HypnoCoosh posted...

Because people don't like being taxed to death.

Why do they think more taxes would kill them? Would it actually?

I assume you're either very young or very poor. Or both.
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uwnim posted...

DevsBro posted...

Better question is why do liberals want to pay higher taxes so badly

Because if people aren't idiots it is more efficient since you reduce the number of processes involved in providing any particular service. Unfortunately humanity as a whole is rather dumb so things never really work out how they should but idealists exist and so you have people who want more taxes.

This is a blatant falsehood. Socializing anything adds MORE steps, red tape, and cost, almost universally. That's why FedEx and UPS offer better service cheaper than the Post Office, while turning a profit.
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For a country as powerful as this one, a socialist or communist government would have to be implemented very delicately, and it's not worth the risk after seeing how the Soviet Union ended up.
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HypnoCoosh posted...

I assume you're either very young or very poor.

Hmm, no. That rather doesn't make much sense. The more money you have the more you could possibly be taxed before it would kill you. Someone really poor would more sensibly be against taxation because they'd not have any more to give.
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HypnoCoosh posted...

uwnim posted...

HypnoCoosh posted...

Because people don't like being taxed to death.

Why do they think more taxes would kill them? Would it actually?

I assume you're either very young or very poor. Or both.

It's a good question. You and I both grew up in a time where taxes were higher and (perhaps surprisingly for you) no one died from taxing or tax related complications. The question is a fair one, and deserves a better answer than your reductive dismissal.
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uwnim posted...

HypnoCoosh posted...

I assume you're either very young or very poor.

Hmm, no. That rather doesn't make much sense. The more money you have the more you could possibly be taxed before it would kill you. Someone really poor would more sensibly be against taxation because they'd not have any more to give.

Poor people are against higher taxes, which is why they don't pay any.
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uwnim posted...

HypnoCoosh posted...

I assume you're either very young or very poor.

Hmm, no. That rather doesn't make much sense. The more money you have the more you could possibly be taxed before it would kill you. Someone really poor would more sensibly be against taxation because they'd not have any more to give.

People already pay enough taxes in the US.

Let people keep their money and invest or spend it as they see fit.

Otherwise move towards a flat tax system with consumption tax.

Socialism = social engineering. Let's not punish people by removing incentive for trying to make money.
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darkjedilink posted...

uwnim posted...

DevsBro posted...

Better question is why do liberals want to pay higher taxes so badly

Because if people aren't idiots it is more efficient since you reduce the number of processes involved in providing any particular service. Unfortunately humanity as a whole is rather dumb so things never really work out how they should but idealists exist and so you have people who want more taxes.

This is a blatant falsehood. Socializing anything adds MORE steps, red tape, and cost, almost universally. That's why FedEx and UPS offer better service cheaper than the Post Office, while turning a profit.

There is nothing false about what I said. You are not looking at a large enough picture if you seriously believe that, by having multiple organizations you increase redundancy and add additional connections since people and organizations end up dealing with multiple providers of any given service. Any added red tape or inefficiency that you'd blame on who is doing it is really just because people are idiots who don't know how to actually get things done. What capitalism does is basically put up signs that say do this right or die. That does unfortunately seem to be needed though.
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Really though, you are best off not paying much attention to what I am saying right now. Like I said, I'm temporarily insane and so my post are probably a bit absurd.
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Because it's rare to see it pushed by someone in a context outside of "I want to do something but I need your money to do it so I'm going to take it" from people that bawk at the idea of working harder / smarter, being frugal, or doing without luxuries to pay for necessities.
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hollow_shrine posted...

ArchiePeck posted...

Cold War era propaganda.

It might even go back to the forties, but yeah.

it goes back to Nazi Germany
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hollow_shrine posted...

DevsBro posted...

Better question is why do liberals want to pay higher taxes so badly

I'm from Oklahoma and we need to repair my cities roads, and desperately need to fund our schools. And we've been giving corporate tax breaks to companies like Chesapeake and Devon energy for the past decade or so while our wages and infrastructure stagnates. I'm personally willing to pay for that, because in the long term it will improve the quality of life for me and everyone else who lives here.

I suppose the infrastructure and education parts are fair, but then again are either of those federally funded? All the federal roads I can think of nearby are repaved every time the government runs out of ideas for how to spend money. Silky smooth and they repave it anyway. Nonsense, really.

But for the second part, how does increasing taxes bring wages up?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8Gkm8VSLE" data-time="

It's always a good day when I get to post that twice.

Nomadic View posted...

No one is afraid of the word. People, do, however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

Then why do we tolerate capitalism?
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mario2000 posted...

Nomadic View posted...

No one is afraid of the word. People, do, however oppose the idea that other people are entitled to the fruits of their other peoples labor.

Then why do we tolerate capitalism?

Because capitalism is voluntary.
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Because it's better to charge people $10,000 to visit a hospital and drown people in debt for an education.
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mario2000 posted...

tolerate capitalism

*posts from iPhone or computer wearing $100 sneakers and $70 hoodie oh and $200 jeans*

*leaves house in automobile to drive to Jimmy Johns for lunch before putting gas in the car*

*stops off at store on the way home to grab the new GoW for PS4 and figures it's a good idea to get some energy drinks and snacks for later*

Fucking capitalism.
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Because "socialism" to the Sanders types mean "I get stuff for free that rich people pay for."
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