Horrid Socialism
I constantly hear folks talking about how horrible socialism is. In the USA, we have fashioned a definition of socialism that has little to do with socialism and much to do with the vague ideological enemy of the cold war era red scare. First of all, socialism is an economic system, not a political one. It is on the continuum with capitalism. Communism lies on a different axis with democracy, theocracy, autocracy, and such. While capitalism elevates capital as the most important element in an economic system, socialism elevates the public welfare as the most important and valued element. This is often looked at as labor versus capital, but my understanding is that it is more than labor. It is the social sphere that includes labor as well as those who are unable to provide labor in the economic system. As to theology, doctrine, and Biblical witness, however, we find those attitudes cast against the nebulous enemies of the nation from our Red Scare days greatly impacting our atti...