Capitalism vs. Socialism
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Did you hear about the latest Rasmussen Poll? In their recent telephone survey they asked American adults “Which is a better system - Capitalism, Socialism or Not Sure”? Barely half (53%) said Capitalism was better while 20% said Socialism and 27% wasn’t sure. Wow.
Digging into the demographics is even more revealing. So who favors Socialism? Mainly the young. Only 13% of people over 40 picked Socialism over Capitalism while that doubles to 26% of the thirty something crowd and jumps to one-third 
(33%) of the youngest adults picking Socialism as the better system. Wow again. It is one thing to be idealistic when you are young but this is carrying it too far.
Except the Rasmussen report that accompanied this finding poses the hypothesis that perhaps the young aren’t as much socialistic as they are dumb. OK so they didn’t quite put it that way but that was the general gist of it. You see their survey never defined either Capitalism or Socialism, it simply asked which system was better. So maybe the 20 year olds just didn’t understand the meaning of those words so that they couldn’t make an informed decision. Hmmm. Sounds like what we saw during the Presidential election, doesn’t it?
This ignorance was supported by earlier surveys which showed that 70% of Americans supported a “free-market economy” while only 15% prefer a “government-managed economy” and another survey showed that just 14% believe the government would do a better job of running the auto companies. Granted, these surveys polled different people but if 70% want a free-market economy and yet only 53% want Capitalism then what else can you infer other than many people are poorly educated and not too bright.
Think I am being too hash? That maybe the older generation has always denigrated the younger generations? Think again. In the history of this country, never before have one-third of the younger generation turned their backs on what makes America great - the rights of the individual and instead are embracing a political system that promotes the government over the individual. And if they truly aren’t Socialists and basically didn’t understand the terminology then they are uneducated fools. So take your pick - in thirty years America will be run by either Socialists or ignorant twits. Feel better now?
Comment by Richard on 10 April 2009:
This is alarming and more so given that 40% of all Americans and more under age 30 are funtionally illiterate reading at a 4th o5 5th grade level. Only 20% of highschool students in a recent survey could not name the combatants in World War II, and a third thought the Soviet Union fought with Germant against the US and /or were unsure which side the UK anad France were on.
I dare say that few in that cohort could not accurately define CAPITALISM - COMMUNISM or SOCIALISM.
This infection of the ill educated and illiterate is epidemic.
Comment by Silence Dogood on 20 April 2009:
Yes, it is alarming, and amazing. It is all the more amazing that after all these years of the “Golden Age” of public schooling since Horace Mann trod the roads of America with his grand obsession, buttonholing every Tom, Dick and Harry, expatiating on the wonders of knowledge ONLY to be had in the context of “public schools,” that our young could manifest such lack of measurable benefit from said context. I wonder whether things have really changed at all since the olden days when 99% were illiterate. Education has since became “universal” and “compulsory,” yet ignorance, a much older and more distinguished human custom, is about as alive and well as ever, it seems. If we are to give such polls credence, we don’t have much to show for our efforts.
Comment by Jim on 21 April 2009:
Hello,
I am PC Fugitive’s brother in law. FYI she has been hospitalized and is unable to write any blogs or responses at this time. For further information, please contact me at the above listed e-mail address.
Comment by Chief Hypocrite on 22 April 2009:
Jim-Your email did not come through for some reason. Please contact me at admin at hypocrisy.com as soon as possible.
Comment by Jim Roberts on 22 April 2009:
Hello, Chief Hypocrite.
I’d like to talk to you (via e-mail??) if possible. Can you give me a address - I’ll be happy to give you more details re. PC Fugitive’s hospitalization.
Comment by Chief Hypocrite on 22 April 2009:
Jim Roberts - Please update me at admin at hypocrisy.com. Thanks!
Comment by sarah on 24 April 2009:
Just because a teenager can’t give you the denotation of capitalism, socialism, or communism doesn’t mean we don’t know what they are. i happen to be writing a compare/contrast research paper on capitalism versus socialism. anyone who advocates the american way of capitalism is either A, rich, B, republican, or C, just straight.. idiotic, in my opinion. i resent being called an ignorant twit simply because i don’t know every aspect of american history. who honestly cares who fought in WW2? how will knowing that information benefit MY future? Or the countries future? it won’t. you’re categorizing all teenagers into one stereotype that we’re all lazy. well.. almost every adult i see, besides those at my high school, are unemployed, on welfare or medicade, and couldn’t tell you who was in the COLD WAR. and my generation is ignorant?
Comment by Silence Dogood on 29 April 2009:
Sarah: Your own post is full of stereotypes and overgeneralizations. What is the difference between a “denotation” and knowing what something means? What sort of nonsensical sources are you using for your research paper? Have you ever CAREFULLY read the text of our Constitution, the Federalist, or the Declaration of Independence? Why are they structured the way they are? Why didn’t the Founding Fathers choose socialism/communism for us? Have you read anything by Adam Smith, Fredrick Bastiat, Albert J. Nock, Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, F.A. Hayek, or Thomas Sowell? If you haven’t, you should; otherwise, you can’t possibly know what you are talking about and will learn nothing! You denigrate your own country which has nurtured and fed you and given you life and liberty! Why? Read Plato’s Phaedo on the death of Socrates. Why did Socrates refuse to leave the city state when threatened with death? I’m sorry you took this article so personally; no one called YOU, personally, an ignorant twit. Who cares who fought in WWII? Have you not heard the words of George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfill [repeat] it”?
You need to read THE LOST TOOLS OF LEARNING, by Dorothy L. Sayers: http://www.classicalhomeschooling.com/html/lost_tools_of_learning.html
Comment by proletarian on 30 April 2009:
Damn Dogwood, you’re good.
Comment by proletarian on 30 April 2009:
Fact of the matter is, we’re in the throes of battling fascism, not socialism or capitalism. The merger of state and corporate power. A “new world order” beckons us through the G20, Counsel on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg Group, et al. Be wary America, be chary.
Comment by richard on 30 April 2009:
Proletarian:
You’re correct about battling FASCISM. Right now we are losing too.
Comment by Young Cynic on 30 September 2009:
I’m not a socialist, off the bat. I, like many liberals, experimented with socialism when I was younger, idealistic, and naive. However, again, like many liberals, came to appreciate the individuality and freedoms granted by the free-market. Now, I believe in regulation, and I don’t think Obama is a socialist. Indeed, anyone calling Obama a socialist probably doesn’t know what one is. I disagree with many of Obama’s decisions, but his overall attitude towards the economy I would say is similar to mine.
In terms of defining socialism, communism, and capitalism, I would say GOOD LUCK. Communism and capitalism, while often poorly defined by both the left and the right, do have certain key traits. Socialism, however, is such a broad term that everyone has a different definition. I try to use it to imply collectivist thought, but that is very open-ended.
I’m critical of the rise of socialism amongst young Americans, but I am also critical of the older right-wingers who don’t seem to fully understand what socialism is, or do but overuse the term, or use it irresponsibly. I would say, however, that neither can define them well. Just look at how many right-wingers think our president is both a communist AND a fascist. I’m sorry, if someone can’t understand the difference between the two (while subtle, it is substantial), I feel they are probably not going to be worth debating.
Anyways, it seems to me that the problem is that people are rushing to extremes. Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and their complete opposition to everything government, be they programs or regulations, are not reasonable. Neither are the neosocialist post-liberals on the left, like Michael Moore, who see capitalism as an enemy. Find those in the center. They are probably the most reasonable. People like Obama and I on the center-left, TRUE LIBERALS, and people on the center-right, TRUE CONSERVATIVES (or moderate libertarians, if you will) are the ones I think should be running this country. Unfortunately, people like their extremes.
Comment by kenwood on 30 September 2009:
All political economic price systems, whether they are called Capitalism-imperialsim, socialism-communism, repulican-democrat, liberal and or conservative, etc… are nothing more than an elaborate hoax, fabricated to serve, protect and expand the exclusive interests of a self-proclaim elite wealthy calss at the great expense to all of our lives.
Technocracy is the only viable alternative.
Comment by Jonathon Woods on 28 October 2009:
PC fugitive, said ” what else can you infer other than many people are poorly educated and not too bright.” I disagree with you here, because I think all people are brilliant in their own unique ways and whether or not they understand the subjective meanings of words like “Socialism” Capitalism” or terms like the “free market system” is irrelevant because everyone has a different interpretation of how they define these terms.
You may find value or significance in these abstract concepts, that others are often confused by, and rightly so, for these terms are intentionally used to confuse and divide people for political reasons.
Comment by joesf on 24 January 2010:
“anyone who advocates the american way of capitalism is either A, rich, B, republican, or C, just straight.. idiotic, in my opinion///”
The above comment by Sarah proves PC figitives point. All the immigrants coming to the USA really meant to go to Cuba or Venezuala and took a wrong turn correct?
Do some research on socialist Margaret Sanger and see what she and her socialist pals had planned for your community via eugenics. I suggest knowing how many people were murdered in WW2 at the hands of “Socialists” is germain. Better crack open that history book if you don’t want to see it happen again.
Comment by joesf on 24 January 2010:
“Just look at how many right-wingers think our president is both a communist AND a fascist. I’m sorry, if someone can’t understand the difference between the two (while subtle, it is substantial), I feel they are probably not going to be worth debating.”
Whether or not this statement applies to the President is not the point. The point is that facism,communism and socialism can go hand in hand. Both Hitler and Stalin practiced fascism. While Stalin was a Communist Hilter was a Socialist. He even instituted a National Health care sysytem.
Stalin was a Communist and a Fascist. Start reading some history.
.
fas·cism (fshzm) KEY
NOUN:
often Fascism
A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
Oppressive, dictatorial control
Comment by Richard on 26 January 2010:
Joesf:
Communism, it is said is socialism in a hurry, and facism just wears jackboots.
Obama is sympathetic to Euro-socialist ideology, and I agree the line among the three blurs.
Obama’s idea of spending out of the recession is foolish. As Henry Morgenthau Jr. — close friend, lunch companion, loyal secretary of the Treasury to President Franklin D. Roosevelt — and key architect of FDR’s New Deal said, ““We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.”
Obama’s ideas to stop what he terms the “bed wetting” is recekless, and silly.
All he need do is slash taxes especially on business and jobs will come back. But, that’s contrary to his anti-busioness philosophy, and his conviction big government is the answer - it is not.