What is democratic socialism?
So what is Socialism?
Socialism is a form government that advocates for the people. It believes in equality for all people and the removal of the free market and private businesses. Instead, production would be controlled by the people themselves who get affected by it the most. Generally true socialism is nearly impossible to obtain and right now there are no pure socialist country. That being said, there are no pure democratic socialist country.
Free MaRKET?
The free market is an economic system in which prices are controlled by private businesses. Without a free market, in a country that is socialist you would work to better the community around you; getting a small, static amount of pay. What this means is that no matter how much you work you will still be paid the same amount of money.
Democratic socialism?
Democratic socialism is a way of achieving parts of socialism through a strictly democratic way; whereas true socialism is generally attained by revolution or revolt. The one other thing that seperates democratic socialism from socialism is it's belief to keep the free market and private businesses. What this means is that while you are still gaining all the benefits of socialism such as free healthcare, military, policing, transit, free schooling, etc, you still have the ability to create or work for a business and make your own money.
How do they gain these benefits?
This is the one downside to democratic socialism, if you can even call it that. Research shows that in the United States of America the top 1% of the top 10% of people own just as much wealth as the other 99%. Democratic socialists wish to place higher taxes on everyone but especially those who make and own billions of dollars each and every year. With this money democratic socialists wish to redistribute it back to the people in the form of social programs such as free health care, free elementary; secondary; and post secondary schooling, pensions, and many many more.
Confused? Maybe this will help.
CONclusion
Democratic socialism and socialism are two very different things. While they do share some similarities, the latter ends up being more of an ideology rather than a practicality within the context of our current lives leaving democratic socialism--a sort of in between form of socialism--a more proper resolution. Used correctly, democratic socialism could be used as a solution to many of the problems a lot of first world countries face; as a result, people would become more equal. Class separation between the low, middle, and high would blur and a more equal society would emerge. Everyone would have services such as healthcare and free education while still remaining in a semi-capitalist state providing incentive for everyone to work hard and everyone to still remain productive while simultaneously bettering the community around you.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Democratic socialists believe that the government should be run democratically; through this, democratic socialist aim to achieve to please the needs of all people. Rather than allow for the top 1% to remain with millions—if not billions—of their money to remain in tax havens while the lower class people are stuck in poverty, struggling in the streets every day. A democratic socialist government is fundamentally left wing so they strive for equality among all people.
WikipediaDemocratic socialism is a political ideology derived from the Soviet model of centralized socialism and social democracy. Democratic socialists believe that capitalism cannot be “humanized” and must therefore be changed into something more socialist. Most democratic socialists also believe that private businesses can no longer be allowed to run off on their own and there must be some form of social ownership.
I Don't Get PoliticsLeft wing is normally progressive and looking towards the future and long term goals. They generally believe in equality and work towards things like redistribution of wealth through taxation as a means to fund things like free health care. A level playing field for all peoples to do with what they wish is the basis of leftism.
In contrast, the right wing heavily revolves around capitalism and the individual freedom to become successful through your own means; not from help from others. You could be sitting at the top of your 40 story building, the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company while 40 stories down on the street there could be homeless people begging for money. Rightism is all about survival of the fittest. If you can’t find success for yourself then you don’t deserve it.
I use this resource as a reliable way to define political terms and language that I may not know. For example, I have looked up the terms, “leftist, rightist, capitalism, totalitarianism, capitalism, welfare state, and many other terms I didn’t know about or was confused upon the definition of.
Mr. Liu's OpinionsA social democrat is someone who promotes social welfare while still allowing the private capitalist sector to remain at large. While a democratic socialist is someone who advertises an alternative form of government in which production is controlled by the workers rather than by the people whom it does not affect.
Socialism VS Democratic SocialismSocialism is a form of government which advocates for the people. It is a government ran by the people rather than by large businesses, banks, and other corporations. People would be equals working towards a common good.
On the other hand, democratic socialism is a means to achieve the goals of socialism strictly through democratic means. They aim to achieve the basic foundations that a society should have through taxation: Health care, free elementary and secondary schooling, firefighters, police, military, public transport, among MANY other things. Along with this, they do not wish to get rid of the free market, private businesses or freedom.
Exploring the other side of the spectrum and looking at arguments against democratic socialism and the arguments against it.
I am honestly very reluctant to include this in the bibliography because it is obviously biased and I’m not sure how well I should trust the opinions of the person who created this video due to the other content found on his channel and the way he portrays his information.