About the term "socialism" some examples..it is already here. (not complicated)

[Stuart G]

Let's See..some public ideas about sharing the wealth to help all: 1. fire department, 2. public sewers..(flush toilets..yes it goes into a public sewer system financed by government)3. stoplights, and 4. public parks. Those are never called "socialism" but I must admit, I am very glad for the public financed sewer system. Much better than the "outhouse thing".,,

,Oh, I forgot the... 5. faucet thing..The government is in charge of the water ..It is clean and pure..not bad idea...You open a faucet and there it is....If you have read this, thank you...

[brooklynite]

1. Point 1: those are all local examples...

...conservatives are more accepting of local investments than at the Federal level.

Point 2: You're redefining "socialism":

a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies

If you have to claim that the definition has changed, or that DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM is something different, you've already lost the battle.

[Stuart G]

2. I respectfully disagree.

Government involvement at all levels is the idea. Ok, on the federal level we have food inspection, rules concerning auto safety, water safety and social security to name five..

So, let us tell the conservatives not to put on their seatbelts. It is a federal law to have seatbelts and airbags in cars. Tell the conservatives to take them out and sell them.

[DFW]

9. I agree. Socialism is what it is.

i.e. an economic system under which the government owns the means of production. It has been tried many times, and always failed not due to its nature in theory, but due to corruption and human nature. The best designed machine in the world won't work with defective parts, and that's what we are--imperfect parts. We've been trying to deal with that since the invention of language.

"Democratic Socialism" is what it is, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_of_Democratic_Socialism_%28Germany%29
The Party of Democratic Socialism already existed: the unapologetic successors to the killers at the Berlin Wall.

Like "Compassionate Conservatism," you can manipulate any term you like, e.g. Fox Noise and "liberal," which to Foxsuckers just means "Democrat." They use "conservative" to mean "Republican" though today's Republicans are anything but conservative as defined in an English dictionary.

What Bernie Sanders is advocating is pretty much along the same lines as northern European Social Democrats in Scandinavia and Germany. People can label it anything they want, of course. It won't change his message, though it muddies it a little, which is unfortunate.

[valerief]

10. Doesn't the government always control the means of production via taxation and laws?

Now, who controls the government is another matter.

[DFW]

11. Regulation doesn't equal control.

Regulation means oversight of free entities, and is a necessary element of a functioning society. Oil companies do not implement environmental safeguards where they are not required to. Food producers do not control bacterial counts in their products because they like the idea. But oversight does not mean full takeover. Exxon and Perdue are not owned by the US Government, but there are government-imposed regulations on what they can and cannot get away with.

Taxation is a means of enhancing government revenue. It can be modified, moved up or down, or eliminated, according to the whim of the taxing authority. It does not confiscate ownership and subsequently hand it over to the government.

[Stuart G]

6. Welcome to DU.

Good Luck !!!!

[raouldukelives]

4. We have reverse socialism. The redistribution of wealth to the top.

One need look no further than Wall St investors. They privatize the profits and socialize the losses.

Whether through bail outs, sweetheart government contracts, raiding of profitable companies or environmental destruction. They weave a trail of entitlement that boggles the mind and threatens to end most of the life we claim to admire and respect on this planet.

There is nobody. No one. In the pocket of Wall St who gives two shits about anything but themselves. That much is for certain.

And truly, to be expected.

Doing the right thing, sadly, is usually the hardest thing to do.

Even as they watch the world burn down around them they still line up to lay offerings at the feet of the golden calf.

[Stuart G]

5. You are correct,They want to privatize everything they can. And also, you are correct on another

idea, "..doing the right thing is usually the hardest thing to do"

Let's remember that when the Affordable Care Act was passed on a key vote in the House of Representatives..it passed by 2 votes..217 to 215..A couple of those who voted were pressured so bad by right wing that in the next election they left the House.

It was so close, that Obama had to compromise on a lot. But......Obamacare has saved countless lives, and will save thousands more. And clearly, it was the right thing to do...

[raouldukelives]

14. And I have no problem with privatization.

As long as they can do it better, cheaper and with less damage to the commons.

But then we would have to start practicing capitalism and that would anger the socialists in the markets.

[1939]

7. Well

Not as common as in electricity and natural gas, but there are a significant number of towns in the US served by privately owned water utilities. A much larger number of homes outside of urban and suburban areas are served by private wells.

[redstateblues]

8. Socialism is a loser in the GE

All the explaining in the world will not matter. The word would be toxic in the GE