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#there may be a larger gap between posts at this point since i'll be making the art as i go
emilysobservatory · 2 years
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The Struggler & The Dreamer
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acti-veg · 2 years
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hey acti! not a vegan question, but i really value your stances on other topics and wondered what your thoughts on this would be (if you have the space for it!) - was talking with my dad about how capitalism isnt working and that we should replace it with democratic socialism, and his main argument was that socialism has never been implemented without a tyrannical government because it cant be, that corruption/power imbalances is inherent to socialism because it wouldnt be like every single citizen of a country would be a part of the government, that there will always be a select few at the top who make the decisions. i said thats what we already have under capitalism, to which he said he still thinks he has the most freedom possible (under capitalism). sigh. i dont really know where to go with this conversation? like my dad isnt stupid, so i want to be able to have a real conversation with him where he can see my points and not just think 'socialism evil' because it's the propaganda he's been fed.
so, what /would/ life look like under democratic socialism? how would the average person impact things like legislation?
thanks for your time and all you do for the vegan movement!!
It's hard for me to really respond to an argument like this because the claims are so vague, if I were presented with it in person I'd be asking some key clarification quesitons, such as: What specific form of socialism are you criticising? What exactly are these power imbalances that are inherent in socialism? In what way is this a problem with socialism but not capitalism, given the massive disparity of wealth and power between the rich and the poor under oour current systems? In what way does capitalism provide him more freedom than socialism would? Just asking these questions alone will make some of this argument come undone because I think he is relying on a very vague idea of what socialism even is. The truth is that socialism is an umbrella term for many different political ideologies, and they would all look different in practice. I'll try to sum up what one possible version of democratic socialism may look like: Under a socialist model, the means of production would be co-operatively owned. This would mean that goods like cars would be developed and sold according to public need, not profit. Workers would be paid the full value of their labour, since the factory/offices would be owned by the workers. Alternatively, the means of production could be publicly owned, meaning that the profits from business are put back into the public sector, paying for universal basic income for the whole population regardless of employment status, as well as high quality healthcare for all, a robust social welfare system and access to well maintained critical infrastructure.
For-profit corporations would be abolished and the state would exist only as a regulator of public goods and services. This would mean that workers would no longer have to fear the spectre of automation, instead allowing it to free up our time to pursue our passions and be more engaged with politics at a local level. Government power would be decentralised, with day-to-day decisions instead falling to unions, co-operatives and local councils elected from a broad spectrum of the population, with consensus building and direct democracy playing far larger role in the decisions that will affect our daily lives.
Another significant advantage of the socialist model is that, since businesses would be run for the public good, and our environment also being a public good, products, services and homes would be built and managed far more sustainably. When the long-term interests of a community are being prioritised over private profits it is not just humans who benefit, but every other being who shares our world with us.
For many socialists, this sort of system would be a stop-gap, to ease the transition between a capitalist society and a post-capitalist one, while production and social values are not ready for free access and voluntary labour. Others predict that as a result of increasing automation, the need to seek employment as a condition for survival would gradually be abolished altogether, resulting in free access to economic output and public goods - which would be something closer to full communism.
In terms of how citizens impact legislation, so much of that depends on what specific version of socialism we opt for. We could have representative democracy (like we have now) where an elected official represents our interests in legislative decision-making. Alternatively we could have direct democracy, where citizens have time and resources to be educated on the issues and vote directly on them, likely making use of some sort of e-democracy system to make that logistically possible.
Keep in mind though that under socialism power is far more devolved, it is not supposed to be centralised at the top. Local councils (or something resembling them) would have far more power as opposed to a centralised national government, as would trade unions and co-operatives. These groups would have a say in the decisions which effect their local enterprise and community, so the citizens which make them up woul also have far more say in the day-to-day running of their own social, domestic and professional spaces. What we call ‘freedom’ under capitalism is really just the freedom to purchase and consume, and even that is highly dependent on making enough money to do so. The youngest generation increasingly can’t even own property - the most essential ‘freedom’ offered by capitalism. So many of us are just increasingly disenfranchised from any of the ‘benefits’ of being part of a capitalist society. In the US, the shining example of capitalism, even the most basic of all freedoms, to live, is restricted by wealth and the level of your health insurance. Is that really freedom?
How much say does the average worker actually have about how their workplace is run? How much say does a member of any western democracy have over the actual laws being passed which directly effect them? In how elections operate? How budgets are spent? How often their bins are collected, how funding is allocated to social programs, how many houses are built, how their environment is protected, how their roads, schools and hospitals are maintained? Under capitalism, freedom has to be purchased, and if you aren’t fortunate enough to have the requisite wealth to do so then you are shit out of luck.
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