Socialism, Democratic and Otherwise

The difference  between socialism and social democracy:

Socialism suggests state ownership and control of all major resources — and generally ends with the complete collapse and destruction of the productive population.

Social democracy suggests redistribution of capitalistic gains — more like Denmark or Norway or Sweden--presumably to allow the independence and the protection of the producer. This redirects capital but does not strangle it.  Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders are both declared socialists--with the old socialist candidate Eugene Debs on a poster in Sanders' office-- and the DSA, of which both are members, openly acknowledges its desire to abolish capitalism.

I believe them when they say they are socialists.

But let’s assume that they are lying, that what Ocasio-Cortez and Democrats want is actually just European-style social democracy. If that’s the case, this is more complicated than it seems. There is an argument that the  Nordic countries aren’t thriving and healthy because they’re socialist; they’re thriving and healthy because they are small and homogenous. And it helps if the country owns an oilfield. Nordic life expectancy was superior to life expectancy in the United States before the Nordic states tried to grow government redistributionism radically. Small communities sometimes have a genetic advantage, or disadvantage. The left is fond of citing Norway and Sweden — even though both are now moving in a politically right-wing direction — but neglecting Switzerland, which is just as successful and far less socialistic.

This is reminiscent of comparing national gun laws: There are a lot of variables and we don't know them. There are some truths, though. The German National Socialists were more a social democracy by these definitions than a straight socialist country. And they were successful for a while. But built into their economic model was killing the unproductive, building mostly weapons and using those weapons to steal foodstuffs and energy sources from their neighbors. 

Predators need productive, vulnerable neighbors. Maybe that's why they fare so poorly in South America. Because, as the Iron Lady said, sooner or later you run out of other people's money.