this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
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You're going to get two answers here, corresponding to the two kinds of socialists: "My kind of socialism doesn't exist yet" and "Yes I'd immigrate to the secretly highly-developed and free nation of North Korea"
It looks like you've got a lot of people that call their version of capitalism "socialism" as well.
Downvoted by unironic supporters of North Korea π
Which seems kind of unfair. I think I represented their stance accurately, and without saying it's good or bad.
Iβm sure they had an issue with the βsecretβ success, as itβs clearly obvious and not a secret that everything is great there!
Yes I'd immigrate to the secretly highly-developed and free nation of the Netherlands.
So it sounds like you're in the category that holds a definition of socialism that overlaps with capitalism. Words have the definitions we give them, so that's not wrong, but I'm guessing this question was asked about the more traditional "classlessness" or "worker control of the means of production" definitions, in opposition to capitalism.
I agree that the definition of Socialism tends to be a catch-all for leftist policies, especially in the context of US domestic policy. Here is a (nonextensive) list of the "Socialist" policies that the Dutch have that are attractive to me.
Strong Unions and high Union membership (twice that of the US)
Government Mandated PTO (20 day minimum)
Universal healthcare (Private and Public options. US healthcare is just not comparable)
Realistic minimum wage (scales with age)
US Politicians who support these policies domestically get labeled as a Socialist/Communist/fringe left/extreme left. I am not going to pretend that The Netherlands (or any Nordic country) is perfect or it isn't capitalist (Amsterdam is home to the oldest stock exchange in the world), but they are a working example of how a democracy with "Socialist" policies can create a country with a high quality of life.