In a perfect world Socialism would work the way Progressives envision it should.  Everyone would contribute in their own unique way.  Sharing would be fair.  The government would not use their power of wealth distribution to enrich themselves at the expense of the general population.  There would be no government corruption.  There would be no black market because all resources would be shared in a fair and appropriate way.  People would not shirk work because they know that it doesn't matter to their income whether they work hard or not.  Instead they would want to help to the best of their ability.

In a perfect world Capitalism would work the way it was described by Adam Smith in his ground breaking work, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations."  The wages and benefits of workers would increase as various businesses competed for the best talent.  Companies would not collude to fix prices or create artificial shortages.  There would be no monopolies.  Companies would not try to gouge consumers.  Instead they would build their business models around a reasonable and fair profit.  Company owners would not let their egos rule them and strive to acquire more wealth just for the sake of being known as the most wealthy.  Companies would not use their money to buy favors from government officials.  Government officials would not accept bribes from companies to enact laws that favored the companies over the workers.  Instead government, workers, and the company owners would work together to form a fair and just society built on merit.

But we do not live in a perfect world.  Humankind has struggled since the dawn of time with the same issues, Lust, Pride, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Anger, and Gluttony.  Whether you are a Christian or not.  Whether you are an Atheist or not, the Seven Deadly sins can some up the root cause of suffering and inequity in the human condition.

It is obvious to anyone who has their eyes open.  So what is the solution?  What is the best way to achieve a more perfect union in a world of imperfection?  One solution is to look at our history.  We really haven't changed that much in the last 5000 years.  Many of the issues we struggle with today were with us for generations.  So which solutions work the best given an imperfect world?  And which solutions tended to failure time and time again?

An honest person would understand that Socialism as preach today by it's adherents has had a pretty dismal history of failure.  Capitalism has it's problem as well but it's success rate has been better than Socialism.  I suspect the answers lies in a hybrid system that we have not quite figured out yet.

  --  Thomas Paine 2