Capitalism v.s. Socialism.

Lord you're silly. Socialism is a political system. Capitalism is an economic system. They are not mutually exclusive. This is a glaring case of comparing apples to oranges.

Well, they do have their conflicts. Socialism means the government controls everything, including the economical system. Capitalism is, as you stated, an economical system in itself. All I'm trying to start is which one is more effective in terms of politics, morality, and economy. They may not be opposites, but they do contrast.

You do realize that Social Security is considered socialistic by conservatives.

No, socialism does not mean that. Just make this sh*t up as you go along?

By the way, what is an economical system? A system for doing things as cheaply as possible?

You noticed,huh, Set?

Yes, sorry. Perhaps this isn't accurate. So be it. Really, I have no idea what I'm talking about then. Apologies.

Reply to what? You haven't asked any question yet. Please ask one.


A civil discussion of what? You haven't put forward any proposition yet. Please put one forward.

Socialism is a political system, run by what economic system?

Capitalism is an economic system, run by what political system?

By your definition of socialism --- "the government controls everything" (emphasis mine), your question is unanswerable. There isn't a country in world history where the government has literally controlled everything --- not even Stalin's Russia.

But if we accept Stalin's Russia as an approximation of socialism as you define it, the answer is clear: Lots of people emigrated from Stalin's Russia into capitalist countries or died trying. By comparison, only a negligible number of people emigrated from capitalist countries to Stalinist Russia. It seems that people who have a choice strongly tend to prefer capitalism.

Of course, as Setanta pointed out, we needn't accept your definition of socialism. Plenty of politicians who would be labelled "liberal" in America and "social-democratic" in Europe --- Tony Blair for example --- have called themselves socialists at one point or another. Between these moderate socialists and the capitalistic USA Ron Paul wants, the choice is mostly a matter of taste.