UTExan said:
To actually become a socialist would require that I steal from others. And I do not covet not desire to possess other's property. Socialism is at its heart a forced redistribution of a product from a central authority. So I cannot conceive of becoming real socialist. It would be like becoming a Nazi to appeal to Nazis IMHO.
No it doesn't. That's such a ridiculous statement. and socialism at its heart is NOT linked to redistribution but rather public ownership of the means of production. One can envision a great spectrum of "socialism" and only on the extreme ends do you have centralized redistribution.
Socialism is the sort of de-facto base form of economies for humans. Tribalism is socialism. Families are socialist. There's nothing inherently evil about it.
Now if you're talking about the forced conversion from privately held property to government held, sure. Uncompensated nationalism, right. But that's a limited and western XX century look. We shouldn't confuse totalitarianism and authoritarianism with economic systems - they are merely the means to enforce that system. I can see no moral hazard in the theoretical voluntary commune, which is of course inherently socialist. Whether that commune is five members or five million doesn't change it.
Eastern societies like China and Japan have a familial socialism endemic to their culture. You almost can't get away from it. The social virtue is stronger and more noble than the individualist.
