<div>So why the fuck can't we just have a hybrid of capitalism and socialism, as other more enlightened countries do? Never mind - no need to answer that. :-(</div>
<div><br><br> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 6:21 AM, unionyes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:unionyes@ameritech.net">unionyes@ameritech.net</a>></span> wrote:</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br> </div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">----- Original Message ----- From: <<a href="mailto:moderator@PORTSIDE.ORG" target="_blank">moderator@PORTSIDE.ORG</a>><br>
To: <<a href="mailto:PORTSIDE@LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG" target="_blank">PORTSIDE@LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG</a>><br>Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 9:50 PM<br>Subject: Capitalism vs. Socialism: Big Surprises in Recent Polls<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">Capitalism vs. Socialism: Big Surprises in Recent Polls<br><br>By Charles Derber<br>CommonDreams<br>May 18, 2010<br>
<br><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/18-3" target="_blank">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/18-3</a><br><br>According to the conventional wisdom, the US is a<br>center-Right country. But a new poll by Pew casts doubt<br>
on that idea. It shows widespread skepticism about<br>capitalism and hints that support for socialist<br>alternatives is emerging as a majoritarian force in<br>America's new generation.<br><br>Carried out in late April and published May 4, 2010,<br>
the Pew poll, arguably by the most respected polling<br>company in the country, asked over 1500 randomly<br>selected Americans to describe their reactions to terms<br>such as "capitalism," "socialism," "progressive,"<br>
"libertarian" and "militia." The most striking findings<br>concern "capitalism" and "socialism." We cannot be sure<br>what people mean by these terms, so the results have to<br>be interpreted cautiously and in the context of more<br>
specific attitudes on concrete issues, as discussed<br>later.<br><br>Pew summarizes the results in its poll title:<br>"Socialism not so negative; capitalism not so<br>positive." This turns out to be an understatement of<br>
the drama in some of the underlying data.<br><br>Yes, "capitalism" is still viewed positively by a<br>majority of Americans. But it is just by a bare<br>majority. Only 52% of all Americans react positively.<br>Thirty-seven percent say they have a negative reaction<br>
and the rest aren't sure.<br><br>A year ago, a Rasmussen poll found similar reactions.<br>Then, only 53% of Americans described capitalism as<br>"superior" to socialism.<br><br>Meanwhile, 29% in the Pew poll describe "socialism" as<br>
positive. This positive percent soars much higher when<br>you look at key sub-groups, as discussed shortly. A<br>2010 Gallup poll found 37% of all Americans preferring<br>socialism as "superior" to capitalism.<br>
<br>Keep in mind these findings reflect an overview of the<br>public mind when Right wing views seem at a high point<br>- with the Tea Party often cast as a barometer of<br>American public opinion. The polls in this era do not<br>
suggest a socialist country, but not a capitalist-<br>loving one either. This is not a "Center-Right" America<br>but a populace where almost 50% are deeply ambivalent<br>or clearly opposed to capitalism. Republicans and the<br>
Tea Party would likely call that a Communist country.<br><br>The story gets more interesting when you look at two<br>vital sub-groups. One is young people, the "millennial<br>generation" currently between 18 and 30. In the Pew<br>
poll, just 43% of Americans under 30 describe<br>"capitalism" as positive. Even more striking, the same<br>percentage, 43%, describes "socialism" as positive. In<br>other words, the new generation is equally divided<br>
between capitalism and socialism.<br><br>The Pew, Gallup and Rasmussen polls come to the same<br>conclusion. Young people cannot be characterized as a<br>capitalist generation. They are half capitalist and<br>half socialist. Since the socialist leaning keeps<br>
rising among the young, it suggests-depending on how<br>you interpret "socialism"-that we are moving toward an<br>America that is either Center-Left or actually<br>majoritarian socialist.<br><br>Turn now to Republicans and Democrats. Sixty-two<br>
percent of Republicans in the Pew poll view capitalism<br>as positive, although 81 % view "free markets" as<br>positive, suggesting a sensible distinction in their<br>mind between capitalism and free markets. Even<br>
Republicans prefer small to big business and are<br>divided about big business, which many correctly see as<br>a monopolistic force of capitalism undermining free<br>markets.<br><br>The more interesting story, though, is about Democrats.<br>
We hear endlessly about Blue Dog Democrats. But the Pew<br>poll shows a surprisingly progressive Democratic base.<br>Democrats are almost equally split in their appraisal<br>of capitalism and socialism. Forty-seven percent see<br>
capitalism as positive but 53% do not. And 44% of<br>Democrats define socialism as positive, linking their<br>negativity about capitalism to a positive affirmation<br>of socialism.<br><br>Moreover, many other subgroups react negatively to<br>
capitalism. Less than 50% of women, low-income groups<br>and less-educated groups describe capitalism as<br>positive.<br><br>So much for the view that Obama does not have a strong<br>progressive base to mobilize. In fact, "progressive,'<br>
according to the Pew poll, is one of the most positive<br>terms in the American political lexicon, with a<br>substantial majority of almost all sub-groups defining<br>it as positive.<br><br>You may conclude that this all add ups to little, since<br>
we can't be clear about how people are defining<br>"capitalism" and "socialism." But in my own research,<br>summarized in recent books such as The New Feminized<br>Majority and Morality Wars, attitudes registered in<br>
polls toward concrete issues over the last thirty years<br>support the interpretation of the Pew data, at minimum,<br>as evidence of a Center-Left country.<br><br>On nearly every major issue, from support minimum wage<br>
and unions, preference for diplomacy over force, deep<br>concern for the environment, belief that big business<br>is corrupting democracy, and support for many major<br>social programs including Social Security and Medicare,<br>
the progressive position has been strong and relatively<br>stable. If "socialism" means support for these issues,<br>the interpretation of the Pew poll is a Center-Left<br>country.<br><br>If socialism means a search for a genuine systemic<br>
alternative, then America, particularly its youth, is<br>emerging as a majoritarian social democracy, or in a<br>majoritarian search for a more cooperativist, green,<br>and more peaceful and socially just order.<br><br>Either interpretation is hopeful. It should give<br>
progressives assurance that even in the "Age of the Tea<br>Party," despite great dangers and growing concentrated<br>corporate power and wealth, there is a strong base for<br>progressive politics. We have to mobilize the majority<br>
population to recognize its own possibilities and turn<br>up the heat on the Obama Administration and a<br>demoralized Democratic Party. If we fail, the Right<br>will take up the slack and impose its monopoly<br>capitalist will on a reluctant populace.<br>
<br>Charles Derber, professor of sociology at Boston<br>College and author of Corporation Nation and Greed to<br>Green. He is on the Majority Agenda Project's<br>coordinating committee (<br><a href="http://majorityagendaproject.org/" target="_blank">http://MajorityAgendaProject.org</a>,<br>
<a href="mailto:info@majorityagendaproject.org" target="_blank">info@majorityagendaproject.org</a>)</blockquote></blockquote>
<br />--
<br />This message has been scanned for viruses and
<br />dangerous content by
<a href="http://www.mailscanner.info/"><b>MailScanner</b></a>, and is
<br />believed to be clean.