by Adam Birmingham

Created on: July 03, 2010   Last Updated: July 04, 2010

"Democracy is the road to socialism." - Karl Marx

The the idea that capitalism is the opposite of communism is something of a misconception. Communism is a form of government, such as democracy or monarchy, a more appropriate question would compare capitalism to socialism, keeping this in mind, my answer is irrefutably socialism.

Capitalism was founded in the early 1500's during the Columbian exchange. It was called so because of capital, which was money invested in entrepreneurial traders. The system defined a nation's power by wealth amassed in its treasury. Socialism (and eventually communism) was developed by a German philosopher named Karl Marx during the revolutionary tradition of France. The main idea of Socialism was the community as a whole, not just the wealthy, the nobles, or the surfs, but everyone should debate and decide on the way forward together so even if the community was not entirely in agreement on something, discourse was openly accepted (and encouraged) so compromises were easier to reach.

A capitalist economy is based on a free market, which is said to encourage entrepreneurs and "mom and pop" stores, while in reality it leaves the door open to large corporations that establish monopolies on their product or products, defeating the purpose of the free market and opening the economy to inflation. capitalism has a sink or swim policy, in essence, this means that if someone is unable to secure the necessary investment, or if the government revokes their medicaid, no one is coming to help them.

Socialism on the other hand focuses not on "friendly" competition but instead on the camaraderie and benefits of teamwork. Unlike capitalism, socialism inspires unified labor, whether it be in a factory on the highways or building a dam. Also, socialism, as opposed to capitalism's "Sink or swim" policy, takes a moral high road and encourages a vast majority of social programs. Programs such as welfare, social security, and universal healthcare are all supported by socialism. Not to say that socialism is without its flaws however, it must impose higher taxes in order to maintain these social programs.

There is no perfect government in the world today, the world is and always has been at conflict over government and far pettier things. It is unlikely that we, the world, will come to a universal agreement anytime soon, however, the next step, no matter what it is, we should take it together, as a community and as human beings.

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