Is Socialism a good thing?

[MarkD]

It's never good to go too far to the left or too far to the right. What we have in America is a compromise between pure capitalism and pure socialism. The fact that we have a compromise between the two extremes is perpetually complained about by the extremes -- I constantly hear complaints by the far right that socialism has been gradually creeping in to our governmental system and we have to put a stop to it before it gets any more socialized. And then there's Bernie and his bros, who always lament how much capitlaism we still have and that's somehow not a good thing.

So long as I continue hearing both extreme sides complaining how the American system is, right now, I know that we still have a compromise worked out, which satisfies me.

[MarkD]

It's never good to go too far to the left or too far to the right. What we have in America is a compromise between pure capitalism and pure socialism. The fact that we have a compromise between the two extremes is perpetually complained about by the extremes -- I constantly hear complaints by the far right that socialism has been gradually creeping in to our governmental system and we have to put a stop to it before it gets any more socialized. And then there's Bernie and his bros, who always lament how much capitlaism we still have and that's somehow not a good thing.

So long as I continue hearing both extreme sides complaining how the American system is, right now, I know that we still have a compromise worked out, which satisfies me.

So what does that compromise look like? Social Democracy? State Capitalism?

I don't know of a word to describe it, but it certainly has the capitalistic structure of freedom to earn billions of dollars, businesses are owned privately, but there are many elements of socialism -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, minimum wage, other worker protections, consumer protection laws, and so on. Capitalism with a welfare state; they coexist as a compromise, but there is no term for it.