2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Would America elect a socialist to be President ? [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)And then there are agricultural subsidies and flood insurance and public transportation. Hey, the railroads that were built across the country on land granted by the federal government. Then there are the dams and the parks, and the list goes on and on.
When we citizens work together to improve our country and help provide for each other's needs, it's a good thing.
The things we do as individuals are also good, like starting families, working, starting and running businesses, organizing clubs, churches, charities. They are all good.
It isn't either or. It is a matter of the best way to organize a particular part of our lives at a particular time.
You need not fear. The Constitution protects our rights to private property and requires that the government pay just compensation if it takes property that belongs to us.
We have more to fear form the civil forfeiture laws and incursions on our civil rights, many of which are condoned by the courts or even passed into law by our legislatures than we do from the proposals that Bernie Sanders is recommending.
Socialism covers a lot of territory, and it is probably impossible to have government without having some very popular, beloved programs that could be defined as socialist.
It's really not an important issue.