Socialism

[Thats my opinion]

Propaganda is the art of twisting the facts to make a political point. It often involves taking a word that means one thing and redefining it to mean something entirely different in order to falsely label an enemy. These days there may be no better example of this distortion than the use of the word, “socialism.”
So let’s look at a number of dictionaries to see what the word really means.
Merriam-Webster: Socialism is a system of society or group living in which there is no private property.
Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.
Free Dictionary: Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
Wikipedia: Socialism is an economic and political theory advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and the allocation of resources.
About.com (a dictionary stressing a conservative point of view) Socialism is a political term applied to an economic system in which property is held in common and not individually.
It is no secret why the label “Socialism” is currently being hurled at all manner of progressives and liberals. The word frightens people, and when the purpose is to do just that, all barriers come down. The technique was employed by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s. He branded everyone in sight as “Communist.” The American people eventually saw through this shoddy linguistic trick, and McCarthy was discredited.
Is either our Government or the progressive community socialistic? Not if you pay any attention to what the word means. Last year’s health care law is labeled as one of these socialist programs. If that were true, or if the law really denotes a government takeover, then the government would own the hospitals, the drug companies, employ the doctors and run the laboratories. None of these enterprises would be in the hands of private companies or individuals. The only socialistic medical systems we have belong to the military and the Veterans Administration. Any civilian who is able to go to a PX is patronizing a socialistic enterprise. The same is true for anyone treated at a VA hospital. My health plan is insured by Medicare. Under my plan I see a private physician, am treated in a privately owned hospital, and buy my pills from a capitalist drug store. Whatever you might call that system, it is not socialism.
Go to any store from Wal-Mart to Saks Fifth Avenue, and you will do business with a privately owned enterprise selling millions of items all of which are manufactured here or abroad by private profit-making capitalist businesses. NOBODY is proposing that any of these industries and outlets should be owned by the government.
In order to save the American car industry, the government did purchase a significant block of General Motors stock, but is selling off that stock to private investors as quickly as possible.
If someone wants to engage in an honest debate about the difference between the two political parties, that can be an honest discussion. But to frighten the American people by calling the current administration socialistic is to use the word without the slightest attention to its definition. That sort of political distortion may work for a while, but it is patently dishonest.
Perhaps during a hot political election campaign it may be convenient to slur the reputations of opponents by employing distorted definitions. But it is past time we do some serious thinking about how to get out of the current mess. Those who simply continue to make personal attacks say more about the name-callers than about those they impugn. False labeling may be a nifty way to make a political point, but it won’t move any of us, or the nation, in a positive direction.

[eridani]

1. The ENTER key is your FRIEND! n/t