| the-pi-guy said: The Soviet Union is very different from what Europe is like today. Pretty much all of Europe is "socialist" by the type of standards we have set to call something "socialist". Even the US is an incredibly "Socialist" country.
The problem I have with this, is that a lot of the people who are against social program are also pro-war. "Hey, healthcare is giving our government too much power, but ensuring that we have nuclear bombs that could wipe out the whole planet, gigantic armies, etc. Those are good things, good things." I find it ridiculous. |
European states are primarily social democracies (not socialist.) They embrace market economies and the private ownership of the means of production (mostly) something any socialist will tell you disqualifies a person (group of people) from being socialists.
I have a concern of how European states deal with things like freedom of speech in particular. I hear way too often censorship happening in EU states, and it is something that would be greatly pushed against here in the U.S. Besides that, the freedoms are quite similar in Europe from what I can tell.
I am against the welfare state and warfare state by the way. I am against them for the same reasons (and differeing ones.) They take GDP out of the hands of efficient spenders and put it into the hands of inefficient spenders (government.) They also allow for massive amounts of debt (19 trillion currently.)
Private charities have existed in the past, and in only the most extreme cases (Great Depression) was government required to supplement them. I think private charities can certainly return (hell, in the U.S there is as much private "welfare" spending as public right now.) As for the military, if it were relegated to only defensive measures then tons of money and resources would be saved. Overall the country and the economy would be much more prosperous for it.
