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| Source:Mark Belfast- U.K. Labour Party member Tony Benn, talking to BBC's Newsnight in 2010. |
From Mark Belfast
The meaning of socialism as it was in 2010 and is now going into 2012, has the same meaning in Britain as it does in America. And its democratic socialism or social democracy meaning that the people have some personal economic liberty and there's private enterprise, but that it's heavily regulated and taxed to finance a large welfare state to provide a lot of social insurances. Like health care, health insurance, education, pensions, transportation, etc, even media. Basically the economic system that Sweden has.
The meaning of socialism as it was in 2010 and is now going into 2012, has the same meaning in Britain as it does in America. And its democratic socialism or social democracy meaning that the people have some personal economic liberty and there's private enterprise, but that it's heavily regulated and taxed to finance a large welfare state to provide a lot of social insurances. Like health care, health insurance, education, pensions, transportation, etc, even media. Basically the economic system that Sweden has.
When most people in the West or developed world at least are talking about Socialists and socialism (at least in the positive sense) they're talking about social democracy. And in an economic sense that means having a strong, vibrant private economy and private sector, where individuals are highly taxed to fund a large welfare state, to provide the basic human and economic benefits that Socialists tend not to trust the private sector to provide individuals, like health care.
