Why do Americans frown upon Socialism so much?

[Wickabee]

Socialism is not what it's been described as by people afraid of communism. One part is right, socialism, in theory, leads to communism, not the other way around. For that reason, it's been common practice since the end of WWII to call communism "socialism" to keep the people from slowly moving over towards communism.
Pure capitalism can't work.
Pure communism can't work.
Socialism is a mix of the two.
In most things, the option in the middle is probably the right one.

Think about it.

[MadMan1978]

Republicans are always good for a laugh...

[Wickabee]

Republicans are always good for a laugh...

It's not a Republican phenomenon. I do think the biggest stumbling block for most is that Socialism is in opposition to Capitalism. It's not, but that didn't stop governments from saying it does to keep them afraid.

[JustAlex]

I still use Jesus as the prime example.

If you christians think this guy was a capitalist and actually "blesses" this country.....you're in for a world of surprise!

Hell, by my standards, Jesus is TOO MUCH of a socialist and one which I don't believe in......still his main message is one I still like.


"God (Jesus) bless America"

WHY?

We don't follow his ways, we don't care for each other, we only care for ourselves and our biggest motivator is building riches here on earth.

Why would Jesus EVER bless this country?

[Wickabee]

I still use Jesus as the prime example.If you christians think this guy was a capitalist and actually "blesses" this country.....you're in for a world of surprise!Hell, by my standards, Jesus is TOO much of a socialist and one which I don't believe in.

I'm finally going to answer your question, alex.The answer is they don't frown on it. They're afraid of it because they don't know what it is. They've been taught Socialism is an imperfect Communism. That doesn't even make sense.

[tpeichel]

Socialism is not what it's been described as by people afraid of communism. One part is right, socialism, in theory, leads to communism, not the other way around. For that reason, it's been common practice since the end of WWII to call communism "socialism" to keep the people from slowly moving over towards communism.
Pure capitalism can't work.
Pure communism can't work.
Socialism is a mix of the two.
In most things, the option in the middle is probably the right one.

Think about it.

You said it perfectly, socialism leads to communism. The problems is that the central government always wants more power and more control and this requires extracting more wealth from the citizenry. Once they have control of the wealth, then they can control your behavior. Think about how much control the Federal Government has over states simply by threatening to withhold funds for education, roads, healthcare, etc if the state refuses to comply with the rules set down by the Federal Government. It makes a joke of the Constitution.

When you have a corrupt government, it doesn't matter if you have capitalism or socialism. Can't people see the massive corruption between Washington D.C. and Wall Street? How can people think that the solution is to give more power and control to them?

[Wickabee]

You said it perfectly, socialism leads to communism. The problems is that the central government always wants more power and more control and this requires extracting more wealth from the citizenry. Once they have control of the wealth, then they can control your behavior. Think about how much control the Federal Government has over states simply by threatening to withhold funds for education, roads, healthcare, etc if the state refuses to comply with the rules set down by the Federal Government. It makes a joke of the Constitution.

When you have a corrupt government, it doesn't matter if you have capitalism or socialism. Can't people see the massive corruption between Washington D.C. and Wall Street? How can people think that the solution is to give more power and control to them?

Amazing post except for one part in the beginning and one at the end

1-Socialism leads to communism in theory. In reality, socialist countries stay socialist. Look at Canada, Sweden, etc. I don't think any are going communist any time soon. I know Canada isn't. If anything, we're headed the other way.

2-Your remark about having socialism or capitalism. Socialism in lures capitalism. It is communism that does not.

Otherwise, great post.

Edit: I just re read your post and thought I would add something. Part of socialism is fairly heavy regulation of business (note: not ownership, that would be communism). Just look at Canada to see what regulation of business does. We have a lot, especially when compared to the US. When the bottom fell out, Canada was left with the top economy in the world. We have private business. We have a capitalist society. We prettyuch have everything you have.

So what is really wrong with socialism?

[shrewsbury]

Alex, so now you are an expert on Jesus?

and capitalism works well, if people didn't covet their neighbors.

[Wickabee]

Alex, so now you are an expert on Jesus?

and capitalism works well, if people didn't covet their neighbors.

And sociism includes capitalism AND heliping your neighbor ism.

[shrewsbury]

wickabee, maybe modern socialism, but not socialism itself.