

The Soul of Man under Socialism - kwhitefoot
http://libcom.org/library/soul-of-man-under-socialism-oscar-wilde

======
kwhitefoot
My goodness, these comments aren't what I was expecting. I posted it because
it resonated with me while reading Charlie Stross's rant about George Osborne,
A Nation of Slaves: [http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2014/04/a-nation...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2014/04/a-nation-of-slaves.html).

Not sure if I can articulate the connection it certainly had nothing to do
directly with taxation, economics, or libertarian 'philosophy'.

But on the other hand I think Wilde would at least approve of you on the
grounds that some of you at least seem to be thinking for yourselves. :-)

~~~
loceng
People who don't understand the benefits of socialism are stuck in a fear-
driven scarcity-mind, and so it's difficult for a mind shaped one way to grasp
another way - though I believe it's possible with the right exposure and
education. I've been exploring ideas relating to abundance on my blog
occasionally - [http://mattamyers.tumblr.com/](http://mattamyers.tumblr.com/)
\- latest post is "Profit Has No Inherent Value" at
[http://mattamyers.tumblr.com/post/78764544562/profit-has-
no-...](http://mattamyers.tumblr.com/post/78764544562/profit-has-no-inherent-
value)

------
greatdox
Socialism always works by over taxing people to pay for the social programs.
It can be soul crushing and job destroying.

Socialism is like the diet version of communism.

Crony Capitalism or Corporatism is what we currently have in the USA. It uses
Socialism to make organizations that lobby the government very rich at the
expense of the people who are tax payers. Both Democrats and Republicans use
that system to get rich. Both should be hanged for doing that at the expense
of the tax payers.

~~~
olalonde
Have you even read the first paragraph? This text describes a libertarian
socialist society which is presumably devoid of taxation: "What is needed is
Individualism. If the Socialism is Authoritarian; if there are Governments
armed with economic power as they are now with political power; if, in a word,
we are to have Industrial Tyrannies, then the last state of man will be worse
than the first.". I personally found the text interesting apart from all those
references to Jesus Christ and not really addressing the "free rider problem"
(which is not surprising given it was written pre-1900).

~~~
greatdox
I find it hard to believe you can have socialism without taxation.

~~~
brvs
I find it hard to believe you've given your opinions on it much thought or
research. Oscar Wilde nor any actual socialist advocates for crony
capitalism/corporatism.

~~~
greatdox
I studied economics. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You cannot make
something out of nothing, that money has to come from somewhere.

Just like in physics, the laws of thermodynamics, energy and matter cannot be
created nor destroyed, but converted from one form to another. Socialism is
the same way, you cannot create social programs without funding them in some
way. How does a government get funds? By taxation.

This article violates economics, it violates logic, it violates physics, it
violates so many things on so many levels.

I am not one to just read something and automatically believe it is true. You
are going to have to prove to me that it is true. Unless I see some sort of
evidence, I remain a skeptic.

Down-vote me if you want, it only validates that I am correct, and you are all
covering up something.

~~~
olalonde
I down voted your original comment and I'm a libertarian (the kind that
believes in private property). Your regurgitated comment with complete
disregard for the context is exactly what makes us libertarian look like a
bunch of dogmatics and hurts our cause.

~~~
greatdox
Sorry I did not want to hurt anyone's cause.

I just didn't understand how you can have socialism without taxes.

Eliminating private property is basically communism as far as I know.

Sorry again if I got anything wrong.

