this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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Isn't that communism or authoritarian extreme socialism? Why do people get so confused over this. All developed nations are socialist to some extent, some more than others. Is there a different definition in the US?
Cold war era propaganda led to civilizational programming that broke the minds of boomers on this subject. Boomers tend to lean hypercapitalist with a very "boot strappy" mindset ie. they did it all on their own. Collectivism is generally not a part of their worldview. It's the rugged individual or bust. We're all crabs in a bucket and the ones that get out are just inherently better. Out of many, comes one. It's all bullshit.
America is the least socialist advanced economy Western nation but yes you can argue programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are socialist.
I'm not disagreeing with you I just think people need to understand what these terms all mean. Communism is... Well think back to soviet Russia, you don't have independent companies, you don't have brands, everything is just state issued "milk" or "wheat flakes" or "weekday tunic". That couldn't be farther from the extreme capitalism that is America.
However there have been some overlaps that I think confuse people because an authoritarian/ dictatorship country can look in some ways very similar to communism because of the total control from the top. But oligarchical, authoritarian capitalism is so so different from communism. It's geared to lining the wealth of those in charge.
Socialist systems in a government would be things like: public roads, emergency services, tax funded military, agricultural systems that centralise food distribution. Things taxes pay for. That's the best way to think of where the socialist aspects of the economy lie.
And yes you're right us is definitely on the extreme capitalism side of what many consider normal. But still need that socialism lol
I appreciate the explanation. It's important people know the difference. My understanding of communism is that it requires the complete abolition of private property while under a socialism private property and corporations are still permitted.
lord the ESSAY I'm sorry 😂 but appreciate you reading it because most people are so determined to right instead of reading and looking things up, that it's damaging. These people just stop learning new things one day, forever, and it's weird
The issue I think is that they see each political ideology as separate parties when they are just definitions of methods.
A healthy society has a mixture of approaches to different sectors. As I said public roads , infrastructure, emergency services, military defence, banking, agriculture etc. these are all things that can only work with a universal pooling and redistribution (tax), it's not like you're gonna just pay for the sections of road you want to use lol. Some places put more into this than others and that's when they are deemed "socialist" places.
capitalism is needed for healthy competition which encourages growth, advancements, etc. private businesses would slump if it didn't matter how they performed if there was nonmonetary incentive.
Then you got things like authoritarianism which is when there is an extreme concentration of power and wealth at the expense of the majority, and dictatorship means when one individual has total and utter rule (doesn't have to be a bad thing if they dictator rules kindly but that never happens lol).
You got left and right leaning which is actually about where your priorities and beliefs are being it freedom and sharing for all, or a more rigid and traditional life. And those are different from socialism and capitalism because these are purely to describe the economic mechanics, not personal ideals.
The US has a hyper ignorance problem with anything that the local churches and Fox News says is bad.
So socialism is basically just authoritarian hellscape where nobody can eat, is safe, or has any real freedom in life.
So basically how we are now, but a fictionalized cartoonish version of it.
There’s a doublethink at play where Socialism is both a totalitarian slavery regime with gulags and mind control, and also just when everything is like it is now except rich people pay taxes