It’s time to give socialism a try

WAPO ^ | March 6, 2018 | Elizabeth Bruenig

[PROCON]

In the United States, we’ve arrived at a pair of mutually exclusive convictions: that liberal, capitalist democracies are guaranteed by their nature to succeed and that in our Trumpist moment they seem to be failing in deeply unsettling ways. For liberals — and by this I mean inheritors of the long liberal tradition, not specifically those who might also be called progressives — efforts to square these two notions have typically combined expressions of high anxiety with reassurances that, if we only have the right attitude, everything will set itself aright.

Hanging on and hoping for the best is certainly one approach to rescuing the best of liberalism from its discontents, but my answer is admittedly more ambitious: It’s time to give socialism a try.

[ealgeone]

Suggest they move to Cuba,Zimbabwe, South Africa, Venezuela for an actual case study.

[mulligan]

Stupid and ignorant comment. It has be tried and is being tried and is and has always been a failure. Some people can never get over being stupid.

[Steve_Seattle]

"decommodifying labor"

What the hell does she mean by that? It sounds like labor would no longer be something undertaken between employer and worker, but doled out by the state on its own terms.

[ontap]

It means you can’t fix stupid!!!!

[mjp]

I would support a kind of socialism that would be democratic and aimed primarily at decommodifying labor, reducing the vast inequality brought about by capitalism, and breaking capital’s stranglehold over politics and culture.

secular humanists have been calling for democratic socialism since the first humanist manifesto in 1933

[Steve_Seattle]

"She’s basically saying: Everyone should get paid the same, everyone should think the same."

No, she's saying that WE the grateful peasants will all be paid the same and given the same kind of tenement and the same euthanasia, but she and other members of the elite will get more of everything.

[Pollster1]

Not to be confused for a totalitarian nostalgist, I would support a kind of socialism that would be democratic and aimed primarily at decommodifying labor, reducing the vast inequality brought about by capitalism, and breaking capital’s stranglehold over politics and culture.

That is the line that I was going to comment on too. We have two choices with "commodifying" labor: people can voluntarily pay individuals to work, while those individuals voluntarily work for the pay offered, or a socialist government (or equivalent slave owner) can use force to compel individuals to work as ordered for the amount they are told to accept.

I like freedom, so I absolutely reject socialism. I will not survive that transition in our country - live free or die. This is not something where a vote to "try socialism" would be legitimate. This is something where the all too likely eventual vote for socialism will require extreme government/union/thug force to compel all normal, productive people to serve the ever-growing parasite class that always appears to leech off those who are foolish and weak enough to serve as slaves.

[Steve_Seattle]

" . . . well, at least WaPoo isn’t pretending any longer ..."

That's been the big change in the past several years. They now pretty much admit that they hate the Constitution, hate the US, hate national sovereignty, hate Christianity, hate free speech, support world government, and want to punish and/or kill anyone who stands in their way.

[redcatcherb412]

" . . . well, at least WaPoo isn’t pretending any longer ..."

They need to move and become the Caracas Post

[Ciaphas Cain]

We’ve been down this road about a million times.

And socialism has taken the lives of many, many more times that.

[Kartographer]

Over half of young Venezuelans want to flee as economy collapses, poll finds

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/06/young-venezuelans-want-to-flee-as-economy-collapses-poll-finds

[fruser1]

There’s already too much socialism here.

70% fed budget on social spending.

Social security, medicare, progressive tax rates, to name the most obvious.

[rbg81]

The classic — “They didn’t do it right last time. We have better people now, so it will certainly succeed if we give it another chance.”

---

What they really mean is:
— We are somehow “smarter” than all those really “dumb” people who tried Socialism before
— This country has a lot more $$ and potential victims than other Socialist paradises
— We don’t care how many times it failed. We really, really want absolute power. And we want it now, regardless of the consequences.

[The Pack Knight]

Appears Ms. Elizabeth Bruenig is the Washington Post’s millennial opinion writer. I’m not impressed so far.

Only a "millennial" could write an entire article about how it's "time to give socialism a try" without using the words "Soviet" or "communism."

Their defining characteristic seems to be that they are too young to remember the Cold War and too self-absorbed to learn history.

[right way right]

Socialism is Communism by election.

[DuncanWaring]

She should tell her boss that he should sell all his Amazon stock and distribute it evenly between all Americans.

[The Pack Knight]

"Decommodifying labor" is an idea straight out of the 60s. The 1860s, that is.

Where would we be without such fresh, forward-looking ideas from today's youth?

[The Pack Knight]

By all means, lets try a discredited 19th century idea responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people.

“Capitalism,” as they call it, has only lifted billions of people out of poverty and serfdom, increased life expectancies by decades, and allowed most of the world’s people to achieve a standard of living once reserved for aristocrats. Clearly, it’s time for a change.

[Steve_Seattle]

"She should tell her boss that he should sell all his Amazon stock and distribute it evenly between all Americans."

Or, as leftists are prone to do, she should kill him and move into his mansion. That's a leftist's idea of social justice. Envy is the underlying principle.

[KC Burke]

A New Republic author guesting at the WaPo strikes a new low.

However, her idiocy in commonplace and often commented on by others.

http://www.returnofkings.com/60799/is-elizabeth-stoker-bruenig-single-handedly-destroying-the-new-republic