#2 - "oh wait, all the socialist/communist nations' economies are failing"
While I think that communism is abhorent, and that socialism can result in the loss of freedom, your statement is incorrect.
Most of the existing socialist states (including France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and many others) currently have a stronger economy, on average, than the less socialist states of Russia, Britian, the US, Japan, etc. Indeed, it has often been the strength of a socialist economy that it can typically weather economic downturn due to its heavily regulated (read: fake) markets.
I don't advocate socialism not because I think it's flawed in its goal, but in its implementation. I'm not convinced that personal liberty would be sufficently protected in a non-capitalistic state. The lack of private sources of funding for political protests means that an individuals ability to get their message out is primarily determine by the state that they oppose. This is one reason why I think that a mixed economy tends to be a more ideal one as it preserves the possibility of independant sources of funding for dissent.
At any rate, your off the cuff dismissal of socialism is all too common in the United States. The goal of socialism is often ignored, yet it is the most important part of the ideology. Everbody should be able to live their life freely, and pursue the improvement of oneself and one's society. In a world where the gap between the richest and the poorest continues to grow, we should all be more receptive and have greater interest in the possible alternatives to capitalism.
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