SOCIALISM, – anyone?

There’s a lot of confusion around the concept of “socialism”, with the word often tossed out as a scare and the ultimate end of society as we know it. Let’s refresh the dictionary definition: “A political and economic theory which advocates that the community as a whole should own and control the means of production, distribution, and exchange.” The idea behind it is for the common good, and in that sense, we already have socialism in this country, since both the military, law enforcement, postal service, infrastructure and other common, social services have been established and paid for through government to cover everybody, regardless of economic status.
The Scandinavian countries are often hung out and ridiculed as “socialistic nations”. Not so at all. These countries’ economic system is basically capitalistic, free enterprise, but with business somewhat better controlled than in the US, mainly to protect the environment and workers’ health and well-being. This makes for more progressive social welfare, but far from “socialistic” in the true sense of the word. Also, labor is by law represented on the board of corporations, and why shouldn’t that be so? In one respect the Scandinavian countries, as well as other European nations, are ahead of us since they have had socialized health care for decades, based on the concept that everybody needs it, regardless of economic means. Also, without middle entities like insurance, health care is much less costly than in the US, yet available for all. So, in one sense the Scandinavian countries are somewhat more “socialistic” than the US, – setting an example we ought to follow, the sooner the better. That the Scandinavian countries are consistently rated the best to live in, with the happiest people, should be no surprise, – and perhaps a model for us.