Communism is retarded, mostly, and Russia did prove that well. But modern Socialist states are still very viable options. It's done well for the Nordic states for most of the last century, and it's really only becoming a problem there because of the absurd immigration influx as people in third world countries now have means to learn there are better places than the shitty ones they live and in and mass transit is cheap enough that they can make it to nicer states as well. This would be less of a problem here, because in order to get any of this passed the left would need to make some large concessions to the right, and it would be symbiotic to let them go fucking crazy with border security preventing the largest threat to the modern welfare state, which is a large influx of people who don't know how to use welfare properly.( There is a proper way, btw, In states where it has been successful, the political culture is that it is taboo to have to live off of the government, and thus few people access their support net and it remains a nice and useful net. ) Trouble is though, when people come into states like the aforementioned hypothetical one, they oftentimes fail to understand this. To an immigrant just stepping into a country, when they hear that there is a state program set in place to make sure you are housed and fed and yada yada yada they naturally think, "What kind of God would send me to a part of the world where people get eaten by tigers still when there is a place like this somewhere in the universe..." and then live entirely off the free stuff because that's better than what they've ever had. There is also the problem, like in the U.S. , where there is not enough money put into it to meet it's demands and we end up with current situation, inadequate programs and large amounts of dirt poor. Socialism at this point merely prolongs their suffering a little longer, the quality of life here can get so low. Ironically enough then, while most poor people tend to sit "socialist" They would more often than not have a better life if it became mandatory for the rich to take care of them, in exchange then for greater social status and larger control. I know that would make them technically less free, but fuck freedom if your Quality of life shoots up 300%. No one's really all that free anyway.
sorry, I rambled.
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