The goal of socialism is communism....Lenin. Have you all forgotten?

Life is not binary. Everything at its extreme is bad. We could also point to places where government is "so small you can drowned it in the bathtub." Those places are pretty crappy too.

So lets not pretend that just because someone did something wrong or took something too far, that the thing is inherently bad/evil/slippery slope. Otherwise, the logic used to protect everything we hold dear comes down like a house of cards.

Socialism and Capitalism are like Ying and Yang. Too much of either and we're going to be in trouble. The trick is finding the right balance...something humans seem pretty terrible at.

So... all of Scandinavia and most of Europe is just a huge Communist sleeper cell then?

That 'the goal of socialism is communism' is an ignorant and uneducated statement. Crack open a book on the subject and you will soon see the distinct differences. I will not start schooling you on communism, because many can do that - but instead I will just say that there are socialist countries out there that are functioning just as well as we are... and I don't think Socialism is the best way for the USA, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work other places. Because it does, and has been for a century or so.

Lets forget politics for a moment and talk about facts. Fact is, you won't find "equality" anywhere without personal accountability. Period. People hate capitalism because it runs on money, not ideology. You want a nicer "X, Y or Z"...you have to have the money to buy it. You have to have the education to get the job to make the money to buy 'X, Y or Z"...you have to have the money to buy the education to...well, you get the drift. Any form of "socially driven" economics is based on the concept that what's good for the whole overrides what's good for the few...or the one. If you already have "X, Y or Z", this is disconcerting...if you don't, this sounds like a great idea.

The problems start when you suddenly find out that "X, Y or Z" has to be produced, maintained, etc. Someone has to build the house that everyone wants to live in...someone has to make the car everyone wants to drive. Somewhere, someone grows/raises/processes the food we eat.

Digging a ditch for a foundation is hard work and not much fun. Framing a house isn't much better. Someone's always going to try and find a way to get their cut without having to do as much actual labor. The people who do the labor often don't want to be bothered with the "details"...this leaves a loophole that's been exploited by "leaders" for millennia. Taken at the lowest level, this is how we got aristocracies in the first place. Over time, the "leaders" take on more and more managerial responsibility fostering the notion they are "better" and "deserve" more for their efforts than the people who would rather just do what they are told and get a guaranteed form of compensation. At some point, the irreconcilable truth emerges that one cannot exist without the other. When society recognizes that those who can expand their skills from labor to leadership are worth more...that's meritocracy. The military may be the last true form of meritocracy in America.

The problem with socialism/communism is that both maintain resentment for the concept of scaling value to compensation. This essentially removes any incentive for initiative. The day a President of the United States takes office, makes the White House a homeless shelter, gives his salary to the Treasury, and takes up residence in a two room apartment...I may re-structure my opinions. Until then, I'll remain convinced that socialist forms of economics and government are envisioned by the uninspired and enacted by the vengeful.

A better way of getting "change" and "equality" is to foster the idea that to whom much is given, much is required. You don't get people to be "fair" by removing identity and variance...you get them to be "fair" by teaching people to be geared towards compassion. You don't get "equality" by removing faith and family...you get it by teaching people that value is self-evident and should be sought out everywhere. Want to end corruption? Require more actual leadership from leaders.

It's all about whether or not we want to plot our own course, or have someone do it for us.