Hello cawacko,
You want to talk oppression? China murdered tens of millions of its citizens, starved to death millions more under some supposed egalitarian form of communism. China was a third world country. They still have a fvcked up form of government today, and I'm not suggesting people should follow their form of state capitalism, but what they did do was open up their markets, embraced property rights etc. This wasn't some non-profit movement.
We seem to be stuck on the messed up notion that it is either capitalism or communism.
Let's visualize this:
A successful hybrid economy which combines the best of capitalism with the best of socialism. We have a government that is largely free of the corruption of big money. Our responsive government is dedicated to the ideals outlined in the Preamble, and the needs of the people and society. We pass a second Bill of Rights which guarantees a fair wage to all, a good job, safe secure comfortable housing owned by occupants, a government run healthcare system in which the goal is to have the healthiest nation possible at the lowest possible cost which also remunerates all the health care workers well in a way which is commensurate with their abilities, and offers them strong job security. Everyone is also guaranteed wide access to the internet, a cell phone, and basic transportation.
Capitalists are free to earn as much money as they can legally earn, but employers must raise average worker pay on a proportionate scale if the pay of the executives and the ROI for investors is raised.
Government tightly controls the market, always on the lookout to quell new and creative ways to rip people off or trash the environment. Products are built to last. Everything that could possibly be reused is reused and recycled. Very little material goes to landfills. There is no disposable plastic this and disposable plastic that. Pollution is then greatly reduced. The seas get cleaner, and coral reefs are protected and nourished.
If anything is pumped or extracted from the land of the nation, it belongs to the nation and is used in a responsible way.
Water is closely monitored to ensure that sources are not depleted.
Birth is monitored and regulated so that populations do not explode and overwhelm resources.
Everybody is free to do anything they want as long as it does not impact others or the environment. And they have plenty of time to do it.
Energy is produced for the good of the people by the government at the lowest cost possible. Renewable and sustainable energy production is standardized with the goal of creating the most energy for the least environmental impact.
Everything which might impact the environment shared by all is closely monitored and highly regulated for the purpose of ensuring that the environment is safe and enduring.
Since such a society would be highly efficient with very little waste, there is not really enough work for everybody, so the work week is reduced, thus giving workers much more free time and leisure time to spend with family and to pursue their own free will of how they would like to live their lives. Those who cannot find work are put on a Universal Basic Income which is plenty to see to their needs.
Parents have more time to spend with their children, so there are far fewer social rejects causing trouble. Knowledge is spread far and wide, so society becomes far more adept at reducing poverty and breaking the cross-generational poverty link.
Hatred is reduced because more people have more of their needs met, and education is more effective because people love their lives and look upon their neighbors as part of a collective where everyone looks out for one another. Crime is reduced to a bare minimum because it is so easy to have a great life by working within the system that nobody feels a need to try to rip others off.
Education is run by the government and paid for through fair taxation which everyone is happy to pay because the system works so well. There is little need for propaganda and dissent because people already have it so good there isn't much to complain about.
I am under no foolish idea that we can have this world I envision any time soon, or at all, but we can certainly try to work towards a better existence. What we're doing appears to be headed for massive failure. The important hing is we need to work together if we want to build a better future. We/they and bitter polarization is only going to prevent us from moving forward. I appreciate that you and I can have these dialogs from the left and the right in a polite way. We may not be able to solve all the problems of the world, but obviously the ability to exchange ideas and brainstorm together gets us thinking and the ideas flowing. I just wish more people could do at least that much.
We've got to continue to try, because giving up is not an option and will certainly solve nothing.
