Government and me

[Sethomas]

My two main friends here on campus are a staunch Republican and a staunch Libertarian. It's useless to enter politicians between the two of them, since such exist solely to make each other feel better about themselves. But I was walking with the Libertarian a while ago, and I got him to agree with my stance as a Democratic Socialist.

I believe that any state goes through a number of evolutions, and there is no sure-fit economic system that works for all stages. At this point in history, the vast majority of nation/states require Social Democracy to properly build up an economy wherein equity is assured and Adam Smith's dream of "universal opulence" can be achieved. Once all facets of society have reached their optimal levels of wealth, that society should begin a gradual shift toward Libertarianism.

I had the luck of growing up in a community where all tiers of society were present; I have friends in mansions and friends in trailers. Having seen this wide spectrum, I believe that at an absolute best we could begin this shift in five or six decades. If the government remains as it does now and corporate welfare is favored over social reform, it will probably not reach this point until long after our deaths. An alternate possibility is that the situation will get worse unto the point of collapse, wherein the United States will have to be thoroughly re-invented (likely much more drastically than The New Deal) and the future is tabula rasa. This is why I call myself a Social Democrat.

Any thoughts?