Forum Post: An essay I wrote on socialism, protecting the environment and relating it to OWS.
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 10, 2011, 8:26 p.m. EST by Wmccoy
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Socialism, America now and protecting the Environment.
Today while in Environmental Biology we did a project called fishpools, the goal of this project was to run a fishing company, preserve the fish and still make profits yearly. During the project I looked at it very capitalisticly, buy more boats to catch more fish to make more money which ended up completely killing off the fish population and ending in a disaster for all fishing companies involved. After observing this and then seeing the right way this project was suppose to be done, it instantly made me realize that socialism(collective anarchism could be used here as well) is also much more beneficial for protecting the environment as it is for creating a perfect equal society.
The way this project is suppose to be done is all the fishing companies are suppose to converse and set limitations to the amount they can fish which would also affect how many boats they need to catch that amount of fish, essentially protecting fish population from dropping every year which creates static profit for all companies every year. I would assume that this way of limiting the gathering of the resource would prove beneficial for all renewable resources in the world until population grows to high and we are forced to increase.
Why am I writing this to support the Occupy Wall Street movement? Simply put, Occupy Wall Street is in support of socialism by supporting more equality between the classes of America today similar to the classless society Marx envisioned. Now I know Occupy Wall Street isn’t some full on Socialist movement it is mainly just trying to benefit the lower/middle class citizens so they can improve their life more but it is a step in the right direction for where this country needs to go to help protect the resources we are using up so quickly on our planet while still supporting social equality for all.
Capitalism is directly related to the want to make as much money as you possibly can. I believe that Capitalism could enact the same limitations but it would not come as naturally as it would in a socialistic society. In Capitalism you are encouraged to work as hard as you possibly can so that you can rise in class and live the luxurious life, in Socialism you are working as a whole towards a better life for everyone in that nation which creates less competition to gather these resources such as fish, it isn’t about profits it more focuses on what the nation as a whole needs. Why gather more fish if you already have enough t o feed your country?
In conclusion, Capitalism supports the destruction of the environment while Socialism naturally supports the rationing of supplies for need instead of profits while maintaining an equal society.
Sorry if this is not a good place to post this as I know it is very much in support of Socialism. Would also appreciate criticism if I am wrong.
Actually, I'm surprised you didn't get a whole lot more hate for bringing it up. The ideal situation, I think, would be some combination of socialism and capitalism. That's not my idea, someone else posted it. I'm not an expert on either ideology so I may be missing something.
This is the perfect place to post this. Pay no attention to the right wing diatribe. I really appreciate your thoughts, and other intelligent responses. I especially enjoy when a progressive thinker (with emphasis on thinking part) has a civilized response for these tea-baggers infiltrating this forum. Even they have a right to spout their Fox News talking point like mindless parrots though. It makes foor interesting reading.
I like socialism very much, it just goes against human nature but for the benefit of people so it is hard to get people to go with it even though it would be good for them.
I always like SOME socialist ideas....but then people would tell me I was wrong....and I'd be like "oh"
sorry not much of a comment.
Socialism is already a 'combination', a combine of capitalism and communism. Better put, it is the road of transition from capitalism towards communism, from a system of exploitation to a system of perfect equality. This dynamic process of change is a very long, arduous one, for what is being done away with is an old order with roots deeply embedded in the society in all its facets. The old order naturally putting up great resistance, its power elite protecting its existence, this process of change is always cataclysmic. Thus history's great class revolutions are not without great violence (the French Revolution, the European Revolution of 1848, the Russian Revolution). Socialism is the dynamic transition towards the perfectly egalitarian system of communism. I know that the very mention of the word communism draws negative reaction right away, thanks to our maleduaction about it by the media of the old order, and what comes to mind instantly are the images of the militaristic Soviet and Maoist governments. But those images do not represent the true idea of communism at all.
Socialism does not work. The removal of corporations and growing of the government transfers the power from public and private to centralized control (which would be the government). In essence you would replace the 1% with the government who would now become the 1%. You would be trading evils for a much more powerful evil that has complete and unchallenged control of the flow of information and finances. A more plausible idea would be to have an educational background in business or financial management and change organizations from within.