where would you start?

What is wrong with inheriting money? It gives incentive to strive to do better for your family. If I had kids I would love to set them up and give them an easier life than the one I had.

I like to write but you seem to like it more. It was rhetorical, I am sure you know all about Marx. You seem intelligent, I'm not going to tell you anything you don't know. It's easily searchable on this evil capitalist's invention known as the internet.

Ok let's be serious. Interpreting the famous slogan (From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs) by saying that it means taking from this to give that is a simplification of the whole theory. This slogan refers to the social justice that will be achieved at the end of the social stage (Which enables the transformation to the ideal communism). Speaking about my opinion, I don't believe in communism, not because I don't like it, but because it is too platonic to be applicable. Socialism, on the other hand, represents the highest applicable stage of communism (Which is ironic since socialism should lead to communism) and is a social, political, and economic system that I support when applied by a real democracy (Take as an example Sweden or Germany). Each human being should have the right to have basic rights in a way that assures their human dignity. Failing to do so will result in social unrest that triggers a class struggle or a revolution if you will. Such revolutions can be or have been witnessed even in states that claim socialism as a political system but failed to apply it or applied it in such a selective way (As socialism applied only to the common people while the ruling party members lived as barons).
The dissolution of the USSR, which is not the mere result of communism or its wrongful implementation, can be discussed in a separate thread.

No, inheriting property and means of production makes a person unworthy of it. In capitalist world its okay to inherit assets because every person is worried about future of their children so they save money in form of assets for their future generations. They are forced to do this because they know the system is cruel and they want their children to not be a part of the system where they be exploited and get their value of labor stolen by big companies and businesses. So everyone just wants to accumulate wealth so that their future generations don't have to "STRUGGLE".

But in a socialist country, you do not need wealth or inheritance. The state gives you a house, education and healthcare. You're responsibility of the state, not your parents. The state even pays for your food and living while you study in a university. After that the state lets you determine your passion of work and puts you into the workforce. You earn your fair amount of money through your labor. The state ensures you're not exploited since there is no private property to exploit you.

Its a meme to say that in socialism wealth is equally distributed. Its not. Wealth is earned in socialism depending upon the amount of work you do. And even the type of work too. A janitor and a researcher had different wages but the gap wasn't too big. Both had similar living standards. I've been to ex-socialist countries in eastern europe.

In this case maybe, but there are plenty of poor people out there that would have had a much better life had they been given equal opportunities. That includes basic rights like healthcare and education.

Hippies are not my kind of people. They did their commune thing and it worked for them. Small states can get away with it for a while even though it's still a messed up system.. The untied States is BIG, I would never try to have Washington DC tell somebody in Montana how they should live. We are all very different and we want different things. Some people are over achievers and they get rich, some people are lazy and enjoy going to the beach.. So which one is right and which one is wrong?

I could consider socialism IF everyone could be forced to contribute to their full potential. The reality of the human condition is that some do make that level of contribution but too many want to do the very minimum they can get away with. When the high level contributor finds that they are sacrificing for the under performer, they tend to rebel and no longer are willing to perform at the higher level. This downward economic spiral has destroyed all totally socialist economic systems. Most people seem to want a capitalist economic society with some socialism for the truly incapable.

I like to keep it pithy, so. our divergence of opinion can be put as simply as I believe in personal responsibility and you believe the "state" should care for you.. I shutter just typing that...

I agree with you. The sad thing is whenever socialism is applied, it faces several serious challenges. Initially there is shortage of production and people have to be allocated to workforce by law. The aim is to make tremendous production of goods so that it can be available to the masses without the notion of profit. Another factor is the constant economic sanctions coming from the rest of the world. The USSR was constantly under sanctions from the west yet it survived until 1990. This forced the socialist state to be self sufficient. Trade was minimal with the west. Cuba faced similar situation. Hence i believe socialism cannot sustain in one or two countries. It had to be a global phenomenon occurring simultaneously in entire world. Like marx predicted the workers of the world were to overthrow their oppressive governments or win through democratic process(which is impossible since the capitalists control everything)
Another obstacle is, the reactionaries or the people who won't let go off their accumulated wealth. They started forming counter revolutionaries groups which made the state paranoid and it had to defend itself from reactionaries.

In the end I'll admit communism as for now seems impossible until the whole world gets class conscious and let go off their differences. My best hope is the climate change, it will be the catalyst for the revolution in this century.

That is another thing I don't like about communism, it discourages personal initiatives and the natural human will to stand out from the crowd. I do believe that people aren't the same, but I believe that they all should have the same basic rights to assure their equal opportunities to compete.

understood

I think we all do have the same rights, here anyway. The bill of rights is pretty clear, even though some people like to think otherwise.

Alright, I almost forgot I joined mingle to find a girlfriend. That was fun though. I'll check in later.

According to a Gallup Poll that just came out 75% of Democrats are Socialists and a very small % of independents and Republicans are Socialist leaning. This is roughly 45% of America who have favorable views of the new Democratic Socialist agenda. For those of you who don't know, it's Fascist style run businesses with a Communist run State. This is s'pose to make the utopia dream of world government work.

Me? I'm a Libertarian. There's around 8% of us left in America. Most Libertarians are my age or older. There's lots of Liberals who pretend to be Libertarians who aren't along with other groups. I'm guessing waving the flag seems cool to them.

under Socialism, everyone are urged to contribute to full potential not by force but by their own will. Because in socialism, you choose the job based on your passion to work. Marx said a free person is the one who is free and happy to choose his line of work and he works passionately. If a person is paid for doing something he loves, he puts his best effort and he gets pleasure doing that. Yes, janitors and menial works were done by people who loved doing it in socialism. Not everyone is a computer developer. Some people are good at chopping woods, some people enjoy mopping the floor and they feel good to put their labor to make something clean. It gives them a smile. It also gives them same social status as other people. In capitalist world these people are treated as low class people and they're at bottom of class pyramid. In socialism, these people have no class just like scientists or developers would have no class in socialism. Everyone's work is appreciated and gives equal importance and contribution to society.

Finally a Libertarian.. I was feeling outnumbered. I would call myself a minarchist though (not that anyone cares).

We all start with those same rights, the difference is in if you took full advantage of those rights or followed the course of least resistance. Take education for instance. Every child has a right to a public education as it is provided by their state and taxpayers. While all public education is not equal, you have the opportunity to make the most of what is provided. If you cannot show up and do your best to learn, it is an opportunity you did not take advantage of and you deserve the result you got. Public education is a perfect example of socialism in action.

The free market is a beautiful thing, it ebbs and flows through society like a stream. It fills holes or breaks though banks to create new streams. It requires little oversight and it's always right, if left alone. It's pure freedom (Laissez-faire). Now I have to listen to "let it be" I get distracted easily..

I can't seem to let this go.. I have avoided talking about politics for years.. I just listen, I guess one never loses the taste for such things.