136or142
Adam T
Junior Chimp
Posts: 7,434
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« on: October 25, 2015, 08:56:14 PM » |
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« edited: October 25, 2015, 08:58:35 PM by Adam T »
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How do you come to the conclusion that Sanders is a socialist other than he calls himself a 'Democratic Socialist.'
There are two standard definitions of socialism.
1.Political- Taken from Karl Marx, the stage in between an imperialist state and a communist government when the state 'withers away' where the government led by the 'vanguard of the proletariat' is in charge of a centrally planned economy and no private business exists.
2.Economic- Taken somewhat from V.I Lenin. The government controls the 'commanding heights' of the economy whereby key sectors are owned by the government. These sectors include health and education but also all transportation, communications, energy, banking and finance and a couple others. All other sectors including agriculture, consumer goods and most products used by industry remain private (some definitions of the 'commanding heights', I believe include steel production.)
Bernie Sanders has nothing to do with the first, and while he likely would like to see the U.S adopt the second definition, his 14 point economic plan makes no mention of any of that.
His 14 point plan is actually so mild that he only calls for an increase in food stamps and not even for a guaranteed annual income (GAIN) that the noted socialist Richard Nixon endorsed more than 50 years ago, and it only calls for some form of 'health care for all citizens' and doesn't even use the phrases 'Canadian style health care system' or 'single payer.'
Social programs are something in common with both socialists and liberals, but the determinant of whether a person is a socialist or not is whether they would nationalize the 'Commanding Heights' of the economy.
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