Ok here is a chart I mocked up on photoshop complete with burning just to show what most people want to do to politics but it shows roughly where political parties align themselves
As I get older I find myself becoming more and more socialist. As most people I know become more and more conservative. I guess I care more about the plight of other people than I used to do. I think the ideal governemnt would regulate the economy and business in fair trade. I believe that in an ideal world everyone would have roughly the same amount of wealth. I Believe that people aren't paid enough for low income jobs and that all forms of healthcare should be made a free of charge service paid for by everyone.The top politicians and fat cats would have us believe that socialist policies are unrealistic and unaffordable. But there is more than enough wealth and potential wealth in society to bring in the policies we have outlined. The 100 richest individuals in the UK have a combined personal wealth of over £250 billion. Just £90 billion of this would solve the so-called 'structural deficit' of the UK at a stroke. Big business would squeal that they could never afford to pay so much, but they are happy that we should pay - with longer working hours, worse working conditions and cuts in public services. It is the logic of the market - of capitalism - that dictates that cuts in public services and workers' living conditions are the only way forward. But I do not accept the logic of a system that is driven by profit and greed rather than meeting people's needs.
Humanity is capable of space exploration, has mapped the human genome, and can recreate the conditions of the big bang in the Hadron Collider.
Yet the world cannot be fed on the basis of capitalism. For most of human history it has not been possible to satisfy even the most basic human needs for everyone on the planet.
Now, as a result of the labour and ingenuity of working people, the potential exists to eliminate want forever. The barrier to achieving this is the capitalist system itself.
Based as it is on the private ownership of the economy, capitalism creates immense inequality and deprivation when the potential exists for providing a decent life for all.
A socialist would take the big corporations, which dominate the economy, into democratic public ownership, under workers' control and management, in order to plan the development of society for need instead of profit. This would only be possible with the active support of the majority of working people.
A genuine socialist would not take into public ownership small businesses, such as local shops, many of which are currently forced out of business by banks withholding credit and by the competition of the multinationals,.
Nor would it, as opponents of socialism claim, stand for the taking away of personal 'private property'. On the contrary, socialists are in favour of everyone having the right to a decent home and the other conveniences of modern life.
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