On Mon, 22 Nov 2004, Jon Johanning wrote:
> 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.
We don't need to think up anything new: if you need a positive description of how socialism works, look at the funding of public libraries, university research, credit unions, open-source software, etc. Many working models. Why the hand-wringing here?
>
> 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.
That claim ignores a mountain of actual examples! My favorite: Salk, when asked why he didn't patent the polio vaccine and make some money off of it, said "Who owns my polio vaccine? The people! Could you patent the sun?" We all paid for and created the university/research infrastructure that made Salk's research possible, and he contributed what he could to the world for the benefit of all.
How many more examples of socialism do you need? I'll be happy to provide them!
Miles