The Misunderstandings of Socialism - 1238 Words

Quotes like Winston Churchill’s have become part of the political rhetoric when leaders discuss the idea of socialism. In current events you can see the exact same argumentation being used against legislation such as the Affordable Health Care Act. Conservative talking heads such as Bill O’Reilly equate it to socialism because, as Mr. O’Reilly says himself, â€Å"[i]n order to provide for the have nots, the far left wants the federal government to seize the assets of solvent Americans. That’s what ObamaCare [the Affordable Health Care Act] is all about — taking from those who can afford health care to provide for those who cannot† (O’Reilly). This simplification of socialism does not do justice to the actual paradigm itself. Instead, in this paper I will try to refute our current idea of socialism because of a lack of understanding. The explanations and descriptions by Michael W. Doyle in his chapters on Marxist and Leninist socialism paints a picture that allows one to see how socialism could be beneficial to the common man while also critiquing the negative myths held by modern society. Initially we shall examine the concept of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels view of Socialism as described by Michael W. Doyle. At the very beginning of the chapter he states that â€Å"[Marx and Engels] are perhaps best known for the materialist conception of history in which the conditions of production shape all other areas of society — institutions, laws, ideas and morality† (Doyle 322). Both ofShow MoreRelatedKarl Marx on the German Ideology843 Words   |  3 Pagestenets of the philosopher’s approach. Notably, Karl Marx produced The German Ideology in 1846 as a critique of George Friedrich Hegel and his followers in Germany. The philosophers sought to differentiate their concept of socialism from existing ones and exhibit how socialism emerges ordinarily from the social conflicts embedded in capitalism . Background to the Introduction of The German Ideology: The introduction of The German Ideology can be attributed to the intellectual influences Karl MarxRead MoreAnalysis Of Kurt Vonnegut s The Great Depression 1711 Words   |  7 PagesWar. â€Å"According to all commentary on this story, the theme of his satire is that attempts to achieve equality are absurd. However, the true object of his satire is the popular misunderstanding of what leveling and equality entail; so, more specifically, this text satirizes America s Cold War misunderstanding of socialism.† (Hattenhauer 387) In this story, Vonnegut depicts America’s ideas for equality in the first line: â€Å"Nobody was smarter than anybody else. 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According to author Steven Walker, a member of the Communist Party of Britain, Fidel Castro s early years were not as privileged as some people might believe. In