>>Watching the failures of socialism throughout history has been very enlightening. It's not that we fear socialism, but we recognize that it's an inferior system when compared to free-market capitalism. Why should we lower our standards?
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>Jake,
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>PMFJI, but aren't you confusing Socialism with Communism in that statement?
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>If not, show me where are the "failures of Socialism throughout history".
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>We have a few people from Scandinavian countries here that might disagree with you. Not to mention Canadians and socialized medicine, which may not be perfect but I would not consider it a failure. We also have some members from Israel where Socialism (in the form of the Kibbutz, or collective farm and industry) has been applied in one form or another for more than 50 years.

Are you sure that Scandinavian countries are qualified to be called 'Socialism'? Do they have private enterprise? 'Failure of soicalism' means 'problems' created by public (i.e. state) ownership of land, factories, etc. Last time I checked, Sweden and other countries have established private property rights.