[ExI] Socialism

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 19/10/2026 20:51, spike wrote:
> ...> On Behalf Of Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
>
>
> On 17/10/2026 17:50, spike wrote:
>> Piker is openly promoting European-style socialism.
>> ...I have been learning a bit about the different types of socialism, and it's not surprising that the word generates a lot of heat. The word on its own is almost meaningless, and I think it always needs qualifying. Spike's use of the term 'European-style socialism' is puzzling, because his comment implies that he regards it as a bad thing...
> It isn't just me Ben.  The republic(an) party and half of the democrat party regard it as a bad thing.


Wait, I just noticed. You are talking about the DSA, not the SDA. The DSA seem to be opposed to capitalism, the SDA not.
I don't think that the 'poster child' for democratic socialism is France, but I'm not certain. I know next to nothing about French politics, but I doubt they want to go in the direction of communism. The 'poster child' for Social Democracy is the scandinavian countries. I see nothing to object to in Social Democracy, it seems an ideal political philosophy to me.

I'm still not clear on what you mean by 'European-style socialism'.
Is it Social Democracy (with the goal of retaining, but regulating capitalism plus extensive social welfare), or Democratic socialism (with the goal of eliminating capitalism and moving closer to communism)?

I don't see how anyone opposed to capitalism could get a foothold in America, the homeland of extreme capitalism, but toning it down and reining it in (as opposed to eliminating it) would at least potentially avoid the excesses of wealth imbalance that we see now. That might be possible in America, but only with a lot of effort. Maybe. There would be a lot of resistance from the entrenched super-rich, but it would benefit a vast majority of the population.

-- 
Ben
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Pablo Casals, via Albert Einstein