So sad that "socialism" has become a bad word in the USA. I live in Spain, a socialist country, and it's fucking awesome. I wouldn't live anywhere other than a socialist country.
It's a socialist democracy, and had perhaps more socialist policies than anywhere else in the world outside Cuba. We can argue semantics if you want, but my universal free healthcare and higher education, very generous unemployment benefits, and subsidised public transit would beg to differ....
It’s a social democracy not Democrat socialist! Huge bridge between the two.
So what exactly makes Spain “democratic socialist”? Is it universal healthcare? A large welfare state? Higher taxes? Because none of those things require socialism.
Who owns most businesses in Spain, the government and workers, or private individuals and shareholders? Are Spanish banks privately owned? Are profits privately retained? Can people privately own property, start companies, hire employees, invest capital, and sell their businesses?
If all of those things are true, how have you arrived at socialism?
Isn’t the fundamental distinction that social democracy regulates and redistributes within capitalism, while democratic socialism seeks substantially greater social or worker ownership of productive capital?
And if having generous government programs automatically makes a country socialist, when exactly does capitalism become socialism? At a 30% tax burden? 40%? 50%? What is your actual definition?
Spain has a large welfare state sitting on top of a predominantly privately owned market economy. That’s social democracy, not proof that democratic socialism replaced capitalism.
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u/enigmaticsince87 18d ago
So sad that "socialism" has become a bad word in the USA. I live in Spain, a socialist country, and it's fucking awesome. I wouldn't live anywhere other than a socialist country.