Time for us Americans to read our history books. Hitler claimed to be a socialist, kind of like the KKK claim to be Protestant. It's bs. Socialism, like capitalism, is an extremely broad term and cannot by itself be attributed to fascism or totalitarianism (speaking of which, gosh those words are starting to ring a bell here in the USA...) Those of you who are scared of Socialists, remember that knowledge is power, and if you want to overcome your fear, you have to learn about it. That's how I got over my fear of spiders. OK...not the same. Anyway, it's time to stop being gung-ho about anything and start learning, something, sadly, Americans are not fond of. Just fifty years ago people were so much more educated than now. What I'm terrified of is what the world is going to come to if the world's biggest superpower keeps consuming from other countries and leaving them dry, bare, dead, for the citizens of those countries. Time to start realizing that intervention isn't about helping people anymore when it comes to our country...it's about money and power. God bless and God save America.

Socialists suffer from the Robin Hood-syndrome. Take from the haves and give to the have nots. As far as Europeans being 'tolerant liberal people', since when? Freedom of speech is horribly restricted in many Eurpean countries, and books their governments don't like are often banned. Let me put it in a nutshell:Liberals value (forced-artificial) equality over real liberty. Conservatives simply want everyone to be free from govt. interferance, and to be able to succede or fail on their own. What is wrong with that? And to Chauncey, the moron who wants socialism/liberalism in America, I say: NO WAY IN HELL!NOT WHILE I STILL BREATH AIR. If leftest scum ever try to do anything like that here, I think many millions of Americans would soon become outraged enough to take up arms against the red scum. To all leftists: Burn in hell. You are a waste of human life. You take up air and resources from people who are actually worth something as human beings. My hate for you is beyond words. Incremtal socialism under the guise of liberalism is what has been draggin America down since the sixties generation, the worst generation in history. I have no respect or feelings towards anyone in that generation. I hate all of them for the mess they have left me and my generation to deal with. I don't want to deal with these problems, I want to enjoy life; oh well, I suppose we all have to make sacrifices.

Collectivism, in any form, is anti-individual and anti-life.

False belief, but sure looks good on paper!

This is what, we, in the USA need. A system where one truely profits from their work. Where one doesn't have to work under a greedy business man. Greed is what is killing this country. We need to give the POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE!!!

What gung-ho americans tend to forget is that we have socialist policies here in the good ol' USA (Social Security, Student Loans, basically anything that pools resources and allocates them. .. ) Socialism only works on a very small and controlled scale. It also works as a trendy thing to believe in while trying to pick up alterna-chicks while in college. (And then you dump the philosophy once you hit the real world...)

True socialism has never been practised, and never will, because of the greed of humanity. Our need for a profit motive negates the need for liberty and equality. This is not about whether socialism has worked, it is about how good it is as a political ideology, which some of you people seem to have missed. Hitler, Stalin, Mao were not socialists, they were fascists. And there's more. Chile would have had a socialist government if it was not for American involvement. The democratically-elected Allende was overthrown by a military coup, aided by the CIA. The person who got into power? Pinochet. It seems that the US government would prefer a mass murderer they could control in power, rather than a democratically elected person they could not. Freedom? Don't make me laugh.

#1: Hitler was a fascist, not a socialist. #2: The USSR was doing fine until a corrupt leader(Stalin) took control.Stalin was in essence a fascist because he used racial prejudice against the bolsheviks. #3: China is not currently following the ideas of socialism entirely, as long as Tibet is oppressed by the Chinese Government, I consider China to be an imperialism. #4: America hasn't been a true Democracy since it started electing presidents.The Power belonged to the people up until then. #5: True socialism doesn't need a leader,(contrary to popular belief) A true socialist state is only a process used to ween the people away from government and teach them to live thier own lives. I suggest that we should take the next step in our political evolution. Fascism---Capitalism---Socialism---Anarchy. I do not expect to see Anarchy in my lifetime, but it's good to think that my children or my childrens children may see freedom in it's purest form.Thats why I am a Socialist.It disheartens me to think that many people will read this with narrow minds and say it was not useful,maybe I'm wasting everyones time, but i'm clinging to the hope that there is something better than what we have now.

It scares me half to death that there are socialists in America. Hitler was a socialist. Hillary is a socialist. Hitler was power hungry. So is Hillary. Pretty scary, huh?

First of all the way most of you Capitalists bash on Socialism already proofs that YOU are thaught and manipulated by Capitalism, which reminds me of Fascism. If you hear the word Communism you automatically say "It stinks, it is bad etc etc". Capitalism = To make as much money as fast as possible not concerning about exploitation of nature". Look what true Capitalism is. Look at the rain forest in Brazil. 75% of our oxygen !!!! One quarter of that will be eliminated because of money! Money money money ! Look at Africa, why do rich people put their dirty facilities all down there? Well socialism isn't perfect either I totally agree with you capitalists but you can't compare socialism nor communism to what happened in the USSR or CUBA or China etc. Chinese socialists walking around with Prada shoes, yeah right come on. If you automatically click on "I found this rating not helpful, without thinking a little, then you just got corrupted by Capitalism". Plus look what Capitalism is turning into ?? Look at it! It is turning into Fascism! Look at Europe, the USA, people giving up all their rights for protection in return just like in Germany during Hitler's rule. If you are really a true capitalis then tell me why in every country the 5% of the rich are getting richer and richer and the 95% are getting more poor and more poor? You Capitalist patriots make me sick. (I am not a Communis, I am a liberal socialist and that has NOTHING to do with Capitalism nor Communism at least not much). But you Capitalists think you are great because you sit head over in depths, having wifes that only want your money, and if you complain to your own country about your taxes being to high, you are considered a terrorist after the new patriot act. Oh man, you capitalists don't see it. Capitalism is a tool to REINSTALL fascism !!! THINK THINK THINK !!!!!! I would say socialism is soooo much better than capitalism if somebody would finally do the job right as a leader, but this is a problem of humanity. Socialism will never work because we humans are all sick, including me, we all have good and evil sides but power. Power is what makes us eveil, reminds me of Fascism, or shall I say Capitalism

Well Hitler loved it if that tells you anything. A big thanks goes to FDR for giving our nation a taste of it.

Socialism is the best of the political ideologies, for one simple reason. Capitalist leeches are finally not able to exploit the workers, and the workers finally get what they work for.

Socialism is based on three principles:nationalition of industry, socialisation (equilization) of payments and elimination of private ownership.Its ecconomics is Centralisised and against protectionist ecconomics. Socialists are against nearlly all non-socialists.Often Utopian. The degrees of Socialism vary from Communism (ultra-socialism), Extreme-Left, Socialism, Social-Democracy, and Center-Left (Liberal-Socialism). The hardline-conservative Extreme-Left of Sadam Husain in Iraq or the Softline-radical Extreme-Left of Chiccalina in Italy are sometime just refered ta as Socalism just as the Center-left or liberal-socialism (such as the right wing of the Labour Party) are by some systems refered to as social-democrats. Most European countrys are now of the last two leanings and many do not use socialist ecconomics. In '96 I checked up on the ecconomic progress of over 200 past & present socialist states (all the leanings above) and found that 97% were ecconomic failures.

Socialism is quite ridiculous and I don't see why anyone would advocate it. It is a little different from Communism. However, it is more like government control of everything. Let's see- reminds me a little of Adolf Hitler and Socialist Germany in the 1930s. Socialism has nothing to do with protecting the rights of the people. It has a lot to do with infringing upon the given rights of citizens, while a select few benefit.

A moral ideology ! So guyz let's be honest for a moment & let's accept the fact that socialism has never been practised "truly" everybody twisted it & tried to besmirch it as much as can.. stalin , mao & the list goes on... but it's "noble idea" with a lot of inherent constraints. And as the world gets more & more economically divided more people are going to get driven towards this "moribund ideology"..... I can see a lot of people throwing trash at me!

Criminals, should all be lined up and shot.

These dictatorships are against free-speech!

You be the judge. (Non-War Dead) National Socialism Germany - 20 Million Dead. International Socialism: China - 72 Million Dead. Russia - 68 Million Dead. Cuba - 3 Million Dead. Cambodia - 3 Million Dead. Korea - 8 Million Dead. The collective minor players - 30 Million. What one benighted fool calls the success of Socialism in Western Europe over looks the obvious decrepitude of Mixed Capitalist/Socialist economies in France, Germany, England and Sweden. Socialism is the most violent inhuman political system ever conceived by a shiftless retard raping misantrope. If it were a just world, the mere support of it should be considered an offense against humanity and the person incarcerated for life.

What most people look at is the failure of the Soviet Union and say "Ha, didn't work." Ask them about Cuba and China. The Soviets corrupted the system by overemphasizing the worst aspects of it and by not following the original principles. Its bad side is still evident where it remains, because force is regularly applied in the attempt to maintain the status quo. Socialism without totalitarianism has yet to tried on a broad scale. Such a system could very well work, but human nature being what it is, it's unlikely that it could be enacted.

It is different from communism, despite what some people would want you to believe. I've got no problem with other countries using it as their economic system as done in some European countries. As long as there still exist other capitalist countries.

Good. It works in Europe and in Cuba

So socialism hasn't worked anywhere, huh? In that case, Europe must be a figment of my imagination. They must be doing SOMETHING right, since, as ellajedlicka21 says, Europeans are tolerant, liberal people. Doesn't sound like there is anything wrong with it to me.

It worked in Europe and they're tolerant, liberal people.

Socialism drains people of their competitive edge and desire to work hard. As tough as it might be to admit, economic inequalities are natural and deserved. Some people work harder than others and therefore deserve to be rewarded accordingly. If everyone had the same level of income regardless of their effort/ability, then there would be no motivation or aspiration towards newer and better ideas. Capitalism as such breeds creativity and innovation because of the need to remain competitive. Socialism on the other hand breeds laziness and sloth as in Gimme! Gimme more handouts! Moreover with socialism, it is unfair for the state to be in charge of the means of production because the elites will most undoubtedly use the nature of their position(s) to their own advantage thus defeating the whole concept of socialism.