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OCT 30 INDEX NOV 01
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from Daily Kos
This parable exerts a powerful appeal to emotion (fear), but it’s also propaganda because it’s based on that emotional appeal rather than logic. Logically, it is premised on a fallacy. The characterization of all government-funded benefit programs as "socialism" rests on a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation of what socialism is. "Socialism" means an economic or political system where industry ("the means of production and distribution") is owned and operated by the government rather than private individuals. As far as I know, there is no viable political party or candidate in the US which advocates such an idea. Programs commonly described as "socialism" in American political rhetoric are instead projects which gather resources from the citizenry (taxes) and use them (if used properly) to accomplish goals which benefit the society as a whole. This is "redistribution" rather than "socialism." It would be more accurate to call it an institutionalized system of social responsibility. Contributing to the welfare of the disadvantaged isn’t socialist,
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