Why do Americans have such an unhealthy attitude towards socialism?

Question

It's certainly okay to disagree with someone's political stance. However, to express absolute contempt for something that minor, like differing in opinion, is just too emotionally excessive to be a rational or sincere reaction.

Personally, I've been threatened, assaulted and spat on by people in New York. I haven't experienced that kind of treatment anywhere else, not even just a little north in Canada Even on this site, people who ask socialist related questions in any of the political categories will get responses like "I didn't even read your question, but commies should be shot dead"m or "commie ***".

In America, is there like a propagandaistic campaign to encourage people to have a violent and aggressive attitude regarding anything which could remotely be interpreted as a socialist persuasion.

Answer 1

"This world needs Socialism as much as Custer needed more Indians."

The Socialist ideology is a theory , fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and which holds forth beliefs that have no basis in reality. Under socialism, incentives either play a minimal role or are ignored totally. A centrally planned economy without market prices or profits, where property is owned by the state, is a system without an effective incentive mechanism to direct economic activity. By failing to emphasize incentives, socialism is a theory inconsistent with human nature and is therefore doomed to fail. Socialism is based on the theory that incentives don't matter!



In my opinion Communism is an extreme form of Socialism..

Answer 2

honestly, I don't even think that half the people on this site even know what socialism is. Socialism is a good idea in premise but in practice has never worked due to the fact that all the countries that have imposed this economic system are run by fascists and dictatorships. Ever since the cold war, anything communism related has been held with contempt due to the extreme anti communist propaganda advocated by the U.S. government, so anything that is proposed in the U.S. that has socialist or communist ideologies is inevitably shot down due to history.



For those who don't know, socialism works on the idea that everyone is equal and all classes are abolished, rich, middle and poor. The economic side of it works through the ideologies that everyone turns in the fruits of their labor (produce and money), and in turn the government redistributes the wealth and produce equally. In a socialist country, the government controls everything, which i will adress later.



The downside of socialism is that it completely disregards the one key feature all humans share. Greed. Humans are greedy, we want things, we want money, fame and material possessions, but socialism is designed so that people are advocated money, services and land in equal portions to prevent any excessive accumulation of any of the above, while relying on the premise that people are willing to give up their earnings and money to be redistributed equally to benefit society, and the fact is that most people aren't.



Since humans are greedy, it's inevitable that in the situation that a government or leader has access to an entire countries, civilians wages and produce, that they are going to become corrupted and misuse it, which is the inherent flaw of socialism, that it relies on the premise that the government will not become corrupted and will be fair in the collection and distribution of wealth, and when a government is given absolute power they are going to misuse it no matter how solemnly they promise not to.



So while it may seem like an ideal solution to the worlds problems, socialism just doesn't work because of human nature. The funny thing is though that the majority of systems in place work using socialist ideologies. It's called taxation. You pay the government taxes, and they give you education, roads and highways, and many other things. The entire population (in theory anyways) gives the governemnt a portion of their money to benefit society.



In conclusion, socialism can work well in some aspects of life and society but terribly in others, so it's hard to distinguish whether socialism a the correct or reasonable system to use when developing a system.

Answer 3

Unhealthy body, unhealthy mind.

USSR won equal medals in Olympics -were they poor ?Now China doing same - are they poor ?

Obese Americano's definition of wealth is casinos, leveraging, flashy cars, luxury villas and rare drugs

Answer 4

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." - Winston Churchill

Answer 5

I guess you have not seen the volumes of posts where others have such an unhealthy attitude against the US free market here, It cuts both ways.



The US is going broke from the greed of capitalism, the EU is going broke from "generosity " of democratic Socialism. Broke is Broke,

Answer 6

A misguided idea that someone else is getting an advantage from their work (taxes) without realizing that they themselves recieve far more than they will evey pay in.....SS, Medicare, Roads, Defense, Airports, Ports, Innovation......they believed it when they were told that if their taxes were lower they would soon become wealthy, but really Giant Corporations want that saved tax dollar to become theirs.

Answer 7

It sounds like you come to the US to spread your socialist views and want to be accepted with open arms. Maybe you missed the point where you are the one visiting, not the other way around. Your question did not specify Americans vositing your country of origin pushing their capitalist views on you so it seems you are the one pushing views on them. Americans by culture are extremely patriotic and independent. Liberal Democrats are more accepting of your point of view than most Americans but they will probably meet you half way at best. The point in the US the mentallity really is placed into their minds of 'Land of the Free because of the Brave", and Socialism really isn't part of that. Yes, there are 'Social Programs' but that does not make it a 'Socialist System'. It is like saying ' Because a Socialist Country has a monetary system does that automatically make it a Capitalist Country?"

Answer 8

The government instill fear in the American people to get what they want out of them. In the 1950s, it was Communism. In the early 2000s, it was the War on Terror. Now, it's socialism. We live in a strange world today where the rich are getting richer, and the poorer are getting poorer. The rich gets a bailout, bonuses, tax breaks, labelled as corportation, can donate aynomously through superpac and can throw millions on elections. While the average American cannot get a bailout. They lose their homes in foreclosures, lose their jobs because of the cost of doing business, are called lazy because they cannot find work, are called moochers if they are getting some type of break, have welfare and food stamp programs cut because they are considered entitlement programs. These people who claim that helping the poor is a sense of entitlement are out of touch with reality and these are the same people that control Fox News, the Republican party, and the Republicans news anchors. They are instilling fear in their targeted audience. So to justify constantly cutting down the legs of the poor, they are called them lazy because they cannot find a job. They called them smoochers because they need welfare and food stamps to give their children a decent meal. They tell them that they need to get an education when many people working in minimum wage jobs have degrees but cannot get jobs because no one is hiring except those low paying jobs. If they see some with disability catching a break, they expose them to cut off that income but they do nothing to the smoochers on Wall Street who make millions with people losing their living savings, their pensions, and their 401k. Companies like Wal-Mart make billions a dollars a year while their workers may less than fourteen grand a year. They cut their benefits, only hire part-time hourly workers that get thirty or less hours a week, stop them from being able to get stock options, and even grandfathered in the extra dollar you get added to your pay when you work on Sundays. The minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. With the cost of inflation, the increase in food, the increase in the price of gas, increase in rent, and the constant increasing cost of living, they really think that people who work their butts of making this much an hour are entitled. It was makes them sleep at night.

Answer 9

I have no objection if people form socialist societies or even communist ones. I will be happy to trade with them, work for them, hire them, or just associate with them for leisure activities.



However if they come to force more contributions than I will tolerate they will be rejected. If they come with weapons they will be shot, even if they wear official uniforms.

Answer 10

Americans tend to lean towards self sufficiency and not liking others telling them what they have to do. Socialism seems to be too much of a herd mentality for most Americans.

Answer 11

Because we don't want to give away half of our money.

Answer 12

All politicians and voters accept socialism to some degree.

Answer 13

Many are misinformed and have been led to believe the term Socialism is a Russian/Chinese style communism. Of course we need some capital, but without social programs that takes care of the needy a nation would fall.



Even Winston Churchill recognized the need of socialized health care when he proposed the NHS in the UK.

Answer 14

Doing as you suggest is like letting a known rapist stay in your house at night while your wife and daughter there alone. Socialism is the very antithetical to a Representative Republic form of government. such as we're supposed to have here. If you want socialism, move to Cuba or Venezuela.

Answer 15

You don't even need to be a socialist. Just look at all the venom directed on these pages against so-called "liberals", (who are probably some way to the right of the UK conservatives).

Answer 16

You leave my stuff alone and I will leave your stuff alone. In other words do not f-u-c-k with my stuff and I will leave your stuff alone. If I want to climb a mountain then I can do that without federal intervention. If you want to climb a mountain then more power to you. A nanny state makes me puke.