This earth is home to billions of people. One of those is you (unless, of course, you come from outer space); another of them is me. Although we may never have met or even be in the same part of the country, you know many things about me. You know I need the same resources as you do to survive--water, air, food, shelter, clothing, etc.. You know I need affection and love, because you need those things. You know I have dreams and aspirations, because you also have those. You know I dislike certain things and enjoy others, because you too have personal preferences.
Socialism is the idea that, because our humanity is the same, our right to the resources that fulfill our needs should be the same. On an enormous earth of such abundance, there is no reason that what people own, what they look like, what age they are, or where they live should determine what needs they are able to have met.
Imagine life if, after the stress of college admissions and getting accepted to your chosen school, you could relax in the knowledge that your education is paid for by the society you support and by your service to the college. Supposing that you simply didn't like college. Imagine if you could get a private apprenticeship without fear of being unemployable when you are finished. What if you decided, after joining the workforce, that you would like to dedicate a few years to community service or foreign missions. Imagine a society that would provide for you during your service, and an economy where, upon your return, the greedy, competitive job market has not stolen your job in your absence.
In a socialist society, the workers are responsible for their production. This means that, without a ruling class controlling everything, the huge pressure to cut cost becomes obsolete. Layoffs become exceedingly rare; gainful employment is available to almost everybody. Without enormous overhead and huge salaries to upper management, companies can afford to hire more employees, which means more leisure time for everyone. Without ruthless competition between companies, more funds are available for public works, such as hospitals, parks, roads, sewage systems, etc.. Low-cost health care could be provided to everyone. Crime would be greatly reduced and much of the money funding prisons could be turned instead to productive rehabilitation projects.
These enticing ideas represent just a sampling of what could be accomplished under properly implemented socialism.
To turn the socialist idea to reality, control over production must be returned to the creators and laborers. When society is no longer burdened by classes of citizens who consume massive amounts of resources but produce little to show for it, we will be several steps closer to a society that is free of war, poverty, discrimination, and other preventable injustices. It will not happen all at once. It must happen in small victories: by electing socialist leadership at the local level, by passing laws that support socialism, by using radical peer-based technologies, by sharing our time, funds, and resources with others who need them, by spreading the idea to our friends, and by inventing new, more creative ways of expressing the socialist ideal.
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