It’s worth noting that many systems that claim to be socialist in reality are anything but. The version that most haunts the American Right, for example, is the “socialism” of Venezuela. In Venezuela, socialism is the brand name used by the elite for political cover while they loot everything up to and including things that are literally nailed down, all for their own personal gain. We should be afraid of it. But that’s not socialism. That’s kleptocracy. Definitely not a functional -ism. And I’m sure there are some classic political scientists and/or ideologues who associate “socialism” with
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