> Here are some talking points off the top of my head:
These are very hard-hitting criticisms, but exactly *not* what I'm looking for. They are all reasons to think that something is wrong with capitalism. We have tons and tons of those. What I want is a clear, practical-looking (who knows if it is really practical until it is tested?) picture of what the opposite, socialist society, will look like.
In other words, if someone claims to be a socialist, as opposed to a social democrat (say the left wing of the U.S. Democratic Party or the Green Party, etc.), then one is differentiating oneself from social democrats by arguing that the economy, or at least the major means of production, should be controlled by the society as a whole, either through the government or by some other means.
One would expect any ordinary rational person who is willing to follow along, at least for the sake of the argument, to ask this socialist what this control of the economy by society or government would actually look like, how it would really work. In other words, besides the critique of capitalism, a positive description of socialism, which makes it look like a reasonable goal to pursue, is needed.
Otherwise, "socialism" just means the quest for something that is an idle idea, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And the socialist is really, for all practical purposes, just the same as the social democrat, since in the short run (i.e., for all practical purposes), they propose pretty much the same policies -- strengthening the labor movement, enacting a humane welfare system, a "single-payer" health system, a non-imperialist foreign policy, etc.
We often hear the slogan "democratic control of the economy" or "of the means of production," but that is easily countered by the argument that there have never yet been any actual examples of such control, so it is merely a utopian notion.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org _____________________________ "Simply by being human we do not have a common bond. For all we share with all other humans is the same thing we share with all other animals -- the ability to feel pain." -- Richard Rorty