Socialism = Hope

Click here for a clear, logical, comprehensive explanation of Socialism. If you know a little bit about socialism, but would like to understand it better, click the link. If you don't know anything about socialism, and would like to know more, click the link. If you are one of the majority in this country who blindly believe that socialism is bad and capitalism is good, click the link. If you think socialism is communism, click the link. If you think socialism is 'evil', click the link. My favorite: if you think that 'socialism is a good idea in theory, but it will never work', click the link (this is, in a way, how I view capitalism).

We in this country have been conditioned to subscribe to the status quo. We have been convinced by cold war era propaganda that socialism is a threat to freedom. Even before the cold war, anti-socialism propaganda was common in the US. Anti-socialism dogma has been so persistent in the United States that the word itself is now almost taboo.

A professor once told me that and introjection is something we are told as children by a person in a position of authority that we believe to be true until we reach the so-called 'age of reason'. In other words, an introjection can be something a child is told by a parent or teacher that she then accepts as undeniable truth until she reaches an age where she begins to question the validity of said introjection. She will then look elsewhere for insight and information that will help her to make up her own mind about the issue.

The notion that socialism is bad or that it isn't practical or that capitalism is somehow superior is an introjection that many in this great nation share. It is an introjection that is so strongly burned into the collective consciousness of Americans that it has almost become a universal 'truth'.

Capitalism was a step forward from the feudalism that largely preceded it, just as democracy has been a step forward from monarchy many times throughout history. (I should note here that many people believe socialism to exclude democracy-- another common introjection. In fact quite the opposite is true. Socialism and democracy go hand-in-hand, they are fundamentally inseparable.) We are ready to take the next step, but we can only hope to take this step if people begin to educate themselves on the merits of socialism.

Educate yourself. Click the link. It's a small step, but at least it's in the right direction.