Not trying to contradict anything you said, I am interested in socialism as a model, generally speaking, but I don’t know much about its economic or social model.
As someone very close to socialist countries that have done rather poorly, I have a few questions about it.
What exactly is pushing people and producers from tending towards mediocrity in socialism? I hate capitalism and how it affects us culturally, but the one thing I think it can succeed at (when monopolies are properly combatted), is using competition to push for excellence. Of course, I know nowadays it’s not the case because anti-trusts have been gutted so we’re full of monopolies and duopolies everywhere. But generally speaking, why would anyone make any effort for excellence under systems that don’t reward it or punish mediocrity?
I’m not saying we should trend towards capitalism where mediocrity is punished by starvation or death by exposure to the elements, but isn’t mediocrity, lack of consistent maintenance of common goods, etc kind of a huge problem of public and social governments etc?
They seem to be very good at equalising the playing field and providing for the needy, but it seems like persistent deterioration of common goods, infrastructure, etc is a pervasive issue in most communist governments that have been tried. Which leads to a lot of losses, inefficiencies and oversight. How would a new socialist model address these common issues? They’re not minor things that should just be hand-waved away either.
Internally for the US, maybe…
But Newsom wouldn’t be threatening Canada, Greenland and Venezuela with annexation, or putting tariffs on anyone who insults him. Or threatening the leaders of democratic allied nations with imprisonment and coups d’etat because of personal disagreements, or creating federal concentration camps in Florida and El Salvador, or deporting random Indians and Salvadorans to Uganda, or mocking veterans and the disabled, or threatening to dissolve NATO and most international organisations, or fantasising about stopping elections, or attempting coups d’etat upon losing an election, or stealing classified documents and hiding them in his bathroom after leaving office, or tearing down the White House for personal reasons, or putting his name on every institution and monument…
I think this subreddit needs to realise that although the problem is capitalism, Trump isn’t just any old capitalist monster. He’s a fucking tyrant.