Just about any political philosophy on paper is a good idea. However, reality rarely follows theory.
I don't think that socialism is viable. I think that a competitive economy trumps a cooperative one. I think government should be smaller and not bigger. Our country was founded on home ownership, and the right to own private property.
However in a capitalist society, the political power of corporations MUST be checked. I can't stress that enough. When corporations start writing legislation (and they are!) we got serious problems. Any report or pie chart that you look at will show the poor getting poorer and rich getting richer.
According to Arthur B Kennickell, "A Rolling Tide" (table 10)
In 2001
The top 1% own 32.7% of America's wealth.
The top 10% own 69.8%
Middle 40% own 27.4%
The bottom 50% only own 2.8% (not a typo)
Under this capitalist society where corporations are calling the shots, these statistics have been and will continue in this same direction. The middle class is detiorating to lower class. Any law that serves corporate interest at the expense of public interest is unjust.
I think our current system might take a small portion of the Socialist values and at least keep the working class in mind. But I don't know that that is even possible however, because capitalism promotes greed. Since the government is an entity made up of individuals, greed and power is a volatile cocktail that lends no concern to the middle class. When the top 1% own more than the bottom 90%, I believe something is very wrong. Trickle down economics (named after a urine stream with prostate problems) does not work.
While a free market needs to be preserved, deuche bags like Kenneth Lay, should have extreme examples made of them. I would like to see old Kenny boy stripped of every asset, property and account, leaving him literally penniless. (when I was proofreading, I thought it said penisless. Maybe not a bad idea either=) Sell everything and divide it among the workers whose pensions were raped. (I mean real rape, not like the "oh he raped me, no really" Duke thing) I would like to see all the Enron, Tyco and Global Crossings goons, work a real day in blue collar America. Imagine these pricks digging ditches, hanging drywall and working long hours in a repetive, low paid factory job....
....excuse me I think I just had an orgasm....
Before you call me comrade, I don't think that it is the job of the government to babysit the public...but it should not also be it's job to legislate a promotion of financial inequality simply to line their own pockets via corporate interest.

Another well done piece. While it isn't the job of government to babysit the public... it IS the job of the public to babysit the government. It's OUR government. They derive their powers from US.

I think it's time to think about a new amendment to address equal access to government. That is to say, that no person, organization, corporate entity etc. should have more influence over OUR leaders than any other.

And I don't think it's wrong to suggest that certain principles of other forms of government can be added to ours. After all, this is "The Grand Experiment". Why shouldn't we be able to take the best that each form has to offer and integrate it with our current form of government?

To think that we have it all figured out is a dangerously complacent notion. I think if we slim down the government, streamline it, options for improvement will be much clearer and easier to obtain.

As far as an economic system goes... How long will it take before we realize that while the carrot being held in the right hand is a mighty big incentive to succeed, in the other hand is a big ass stick that keeps beating the working class. Oh, and I have a sneaky suspicion that that carrot was eaten a long time ago and the one they are holding up is just a plastic one... from China

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

"Too ashamed to say socialist because you know over a long time period it won't work but then the feel good do good nature comes out and the unintended consequences of creeping socialism are espoused."

>>>Socialism seems to be working just fine in the USofA and in any other industrialized country you care to look at. It's working especially well for the corporate socialists who couldn't exist without its nanny-goat government. Ask Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, or Exxon-Mobil, eh?

Bush has been cozying up to the great unwashed for years now. Too bad we can't all be Aryan ubermenchen and still win elections, eh?

being of Italian heritage
(the FIRST one born from the FIRST generation born in the USA)

We really need to look a little closer that World War Two Europe ....

How about the LABOR UNION and Teamsters of Jimmy Hoffa's day??

Fattening up the laborer to vote Democratic entitlement ...

When one hears the term LABOR PARTY does one think CAPITALISM?

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"One Person Will Get $25.00 Visa Gift Card - CLICK HERE To Get Your Chance!"

"When one hears the term LABOR PARTY does one think CAPITALISM?"

>>>I do. Since when is an individual not entitled to capitalize on his own labor? It's called 'market economics'.

I equate "Labor Party" with socialism.

Socialist Labor Party Link

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"One Person Will Get $25.00 Visa Gift Card - CLICK HERE To Get Your Chance!"

Go to vote socialism and Karl Marx on this one. Socialism puts its main views on markets, capital, and labor. This lead to nationalism and mixed economies. China, who is a mixed economy, has one of the fastest growing economic systems in the world. So Socialism works best when mixed with capitalist communism.

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-Locke

Go to vote socialism and Karl Marx on this one. Socialism puts its main views on markets, capital, and labor. This lead to nationalism and mixed economies. China, who is a mixed economy, has one of the fastest growing economic systems in the world. So Socialism works best when mixed with capitalist communism.

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-Locke

"I equate "Labor Party" with socialism."

>>>If you equate "Labor Party" with "Labor Unions" and "socialism", you would be wrong. If you equate corporations and stock markets with socialism, you'd be correct.