Trego's Mountain Ear

This Gallup poll had a simple question – do you have a positive or negative image of socialism, then the same on capitalism. The graphs may explain some of our differences:

I can’t help remembering that Karl Marx was more a critical student of capitalism than socialism as I look at these graphs. Thing is, I live in a mixed economy – part capitalistic, part socialistic. I live in an area where the county government builds and maintains the roads – in other places toll roads are an option (though they are often still government operations). Roughly 3/4 of the county land is government owned. I have socialized garbage collection. My health insurance is Medicare. If I make too much money this year, my payments go up next year. I like owning my own house and cars. My electric power comes from a co-op that was developed as a social program. My world, or at least my state and nation, are a blend of capitalism and socialism. Some aspects of socialism are many steps beyond what I regard as tolerable, others make life easier.

A dislike for Capitalism usually boils down to a dislike for monopolies – and, as we can see in Venezuela, Socialism changes the people who have the monopolies. Under Capitalism, the rich become powerful; under Socialism, the powerful become rich. It seems like we could all agree that what we hate is Authoritarianism in all forms? I guess that’s just too simple.

I’m viewing polls and articles that tell me the younger generation dislikes both political parties – and I can’t help believing that’s a good thing.