Socialism

Socialism is a political philosophy that advocates reducing the power of the wealthy. It is against large corporations and the ultra-wealthy, therefore making it the worst form of government according to Ann Coulter. Well what do we expect from her? It's against giving rich people the freedom to take advantage of the rest of us which is good. Some types of socialism are like Social Democracy. That means having a welfare state which protects democracy. People who have basic care don’t become so desperate that they get involved in Communist or Fascist revolutions.

What is wrong with present society
Currently, the richest 1% of Americans own 37% of the wealth and the poorest 90% own 28% of the wealth, a massive disparency of wealth created by conservatives to deny wealth to the majority of Americans. This kind of disparency is also becoming apparent in the rest of the world as well. Conservatives try to say that socialists are just lazy and dependant on welfare, they should check to see if any of them fit that description. Really, can 90% of Americans be lazy bums and not deserve any more wealth from their work? The rich don't always deserve that money, as many of them just drain the wealth from the poor and pass it to their offspring and refuse to share it with anyone that deserves it. It's hard to argue with a system that helps the poor and middle class (the vast majority of people are one of those two) and take cash from the rich (who don't need it, and never actually spend much of it). Unfortunately, brainwashed conservative sheep have been tricked into thinking this is a bad idea, denying themselves what they could gain from this type of system.

Also, socialists often advocate social freedoms and Labor rights, unlike like liberals who mainly show support for human rights. They often support civil rights, equality between men and women, environmentalism, sexual liberty, helping people in need around the world, peace, and are free thinkers. In contrast, conservatives want to destroy the environment, put blacks back in slavery, keep women from voting and as their husband's property, kill gays, love war, belive in some imaginary sky daddy that will save them, and take money away form the poor.

Traditional socialism
Traditional socialism was a political and economic philosophy that advocated social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises, common ownership, autonomous public ownership or state ownership. As a form of social organization, traditional socialism was based on co-operative social relations and self-management; relatively equal power-relations and the reduction or elimination of hierarchy in the management of economic and political affairs.

Socialism and other political systems
Socialists and Liberals sometimes get along better than Liberals and Conservatives though today the Liberal Democrats are in coalition with the Conservative Party in the UK. Communists and Conservatives have much more in common, including a tendency to revise history, run over people with tanks (see Poland), treat the lower class awfully, censor books, movies and works of art and feel it is the government's right to monitor people’s movements and communication. Conservatives also have in common with Communists the tendency to favor ideology when it comes in conflict with Science.

Right wing scare tactics
Due to the negativity associated with Communism, conservatives often tend to associate communists with socialists. This is a right wing scare tactic (and with this association, calling Obama a Socialist [which is not true]). Conservatives often claim that Socialism makes people lazy, because the wealth gets "spread around" so much. They may also claim that Socialism does not work, when in fact, the 4 countries in Europe with the highest work ethic are all run by socialists. Socialism IS NOT the same as COMMUNISM, and neither communism or socialism are the same as Orwellianism. (Orwell was in fact a socialist!) Communism is socialism taken to the extreme, and saying that socialism is as bad as communism (we're looking at you, conservatives) is like saying stubbing your toe is as bad as the Holocaust.

Popularity
Socialism seems to be becoming increasingly popular with young Americans, see:-
 * One in five Americans finds socialism superior, poll says
 * The Declining Unpopularity of Socialism

Awesome things Socialists can do that right-wingers can't do

 * Free the people
 * Sing awesome revolutionary songs
 * Get laid
 * Get nasty to Fascists like Nazis and Klansmen
 * Not commit human rights abuses
 * Be peaceful
 * Prove Neocons wrong
 * Ally with Liberals to save the world
 * Abolish the death penalty
 * Treat Women as equals
 * Treat minorities and immigrants as equals
 * Treat Homosexuals as equals
 * Introduce shorter work weeks without reducing pay
 * End wars
 * Be sexy
 * Free Tibet
 * Listen to rock music
 * Refuse to commodify sex
 * Replace unrestrained, deregulated capitalism with something better
 * Tax the sh*t out of the extremely wealthy
 * Introduce Universal health care
 * Be social
 * Actually having a brain

Videos

 * Michael Moore Talks About Socialism Michael Moore explains what he thinks is a good Economic system.
 * Chomsky on Socialism Noam Chomski argues that the USSR was not socialist because it didn’t bring Freedom and attacks United States Capitalism too.
 * What is Democratic Socialism? If you are studying Social science at 6th Form, College or University this video will give you useful background information for your course work. If you can’t understand it the first time you hear it you can play it several times.  The text here is weird.