Reply #75: Socialism and Democracy

[TabulaRasa]

I agree with Minstrel Boy. It's capitalism and democracy that are incompatible. In my opinion, not only are socialism(small s) and democracy compatible, but socialism is the application of democratic principles to economic governance. Capitalism is the application of totalitarian principles to economic governance. More to the point, you can't even have a political democracy when capitalism is the economic system.

Capitalism is the economic system where a portion of the population owns the means of production, and the rest of the people rent themselves to those owners for sustenance. Now, say the people in a political "democracy" decide they want certain policies enacted (an end to corporate welfare, or a living wage law, for example), if the owners are not happy, they can choose to halt production, and then their workers don't eat. So, the workers, who also happen to be the voters, don't really have the power to make those democratic decisions, that is if they want to eat, and stay alive. This problem doesn't occur when each worker is a part owner of the means of production (i.e. when they are owned collectively) and this is what socialism really is. I can clarify what I mean better, if anyone wants me to.