I agree that few Democrats are truly socialist, although some are. It depends on how one cuts the thing: if being gung- ho for an expansion of the welfare state is socialist, then liberals are socialists, and since most Democrats are liberals, it is the socialist party. If a commitment to central planning and a strong move toward income equalization makes a socialist, then there is hardly a socialist to be found outside of academia, and few there, as I have tried to describe...
....Economics is a social science. That may mean that it is not as "hard" as, say, physics, but it does mean that it progressively establishes certain facts and theories with a high level of confidence in their truth, and that even if some will need revising, much is known. Therefore, I do not think it is correct to suppose that everything is up for grabs...
...Without generalization, there is neither speech nor thought. Labels must be used with care, to be sure, but they are unavoidable....
...The question is multiple, in any case, and cannot be resolved in one sitting. Tell me, though, what you think the primary good of the Democratic Party's ideology is, when you have the time... |
