Introduction
On 2/28/2021, I had received a comment from someone that had been a Socialist Democrat, while living in another country. The person respects my “opinion.” The person is fine human being. I respect that person's history.
Let's explore the “facts,” by way of a glimpse into “Democratic Socialism.” I had started working on this article, on 3/2/2021. I finished it on 3/14/2021, finally. I am publishing it today. This article is only a glimpse.
Source: World Population Review: Total Population by Country. Note: there are 232 nations on the map, if you count Vatican City.
Five Communist Nations, 2021 (2.15% of all Nations)
Source: World Population Review: Communist Countries appears to be a valid source. The website states that, in 2021, there are five communist nations:
Cuba
Laos
North Korea
Vietnam
I will not take the time to research more, in this article. China is doing its best to over take the USSA, as the main global power – economically and militarily. They appear to be winning. The other four are not doing much, aside from North Korea, which launches a few nuclear missiles ever now and then.
27 Democratic Socialist Nations, 2021 (11.63 % of all Nations)
Source: World Population Review: Democratic Socialist Countries.
The list shows Democratic Socialist Countries in 2021. A total of 27 countries is listed. The following are three that I selected.
18 Finland 5,548,360 population (ditto)
20 Ireland 4,982,907 population (ditto)
The following quotations are from the above website. I emboldened and underlined key areas.
Democratic Socialism describes a socialist economy where production and wealth are collectively owned, but the country has a democratic system of government. The goal of democratic Socialism is to achieve socialist goals of equality while opposing socialist ideologies. Democratic Socialism is opposed to the Soviet economic model, command economies, and authoritarian governance.
A democratic socialist believes that the government should provide a range of essential services to the public for free or at a significant discount, such as health care and education. Unlike socialists, democratic socialists do not believe the government should control all aspects of the aspects, only help provide basic needs and help all of its citizens have an equal chance of success.
There is a big fundamental difference between Socialism and Communism. Individuals under a proper Communist system would not have money and would be given what the government thinks you need in terms of food, clothing, housing, etc. The people would not need to work harder to receive the same amount as anyone else. Under Socialism, individuals are compensated based on their individual contribution; therefore, those who work harder would receive more.
Furthermore, Communism views all property as public property, while Socialism allows individuals to still have their own private property. Communism is an economic and political philosophy, and Socialism is an economic philosophy. Lastly, Communism abolishes class distinctions as everyone is effectively treated equally, while Socialism allows class distinctions to exist, as there is the opportunity for some to achieve more wealth than others.
Both democratic Socialism and socialism advocate for a redistribution of wealth and power to meet public needs, not make profits for a few. Both aim to weaken the power of corporations and increase the power of the working people.
Democratic socialists, however, do not think the government should immediately take control of all aspects of the economy. Democratic Socialism focuses more on providing basic needs to all people, such as health care and education. Democratic Socialism, unlike Socialism, would achieve this through democratic means and not an authoritarian rule.
2021 Index of Economic Freedom
Source: The Heritage Foundation: 2021 Index of Economic Freedom.
Five Nations are ranked as “free:”
2 New Zealand
3 Australia
4 Switzerland
5 Ireland (well, saints be praised!)
33 Nations are ranked as “mostly free.” Here are two:
20 United States 74.8: “The overall tax burden equals 24.3 percent of total domestic income. Government spending has amounted to 35.5 percent of total output (GDP) over the past three years, and budget deficits have averaged 5.3 percent of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 109.0 percent of GDP.” (NOTE: population 332,347,438. Source: World Population Review: United States Population.)
21 Sweden 74.7: “The overall tax burden equals 44.0 percent of
total domestic income. Government spending has amounted to 49.7
percent of the country’s output (GDP) over the past three years,
and budget surpluses have averaged 1.1 percent
of GDP. Public debt
is equivalent to 39.0 percent of
GDP.” (NOTE: population 10,142,300, or three percent of
USA population. Source: World
Population Review: Sweden Population.)
The rank continues to “moderately free,” “mostly un-free,” “repressed,” and “not ranked.” You can explore the details.
Conclusion
I did not want to take more time on this article. I had other articles to publish. Socialism, or democrat socialism, is communism light. The socialists want, in equity, to “redistribute” wealth, so that everyone – including those who “hit a lick” to work and those who “sit around and eat bon bons” – has equity.
Democrat socialism appears to work, for now, for a few counties that have low populations, as compared to the USSA (former USA) population. The USSA wants to join the Democrat socialist ideas of Finland, Sweden, etc. – as those few and low population nations seem to have it working well enough, for now.
Good luck, USSA. You will need it. As Mark Levin states, “that's all. I'm done!”
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