Saturday, September 24, 2011

Why Socialism Is Right | Slog:

Oscar Wilde was a socialist (though I do not totally agree with his position on socialism) and a dandy, a cultivated human being, a man with good tastes (Wilde's final words are rumored to have been: "This wallpaper is atrocious; either it or I have to go"). And this is what it comes down to: It is in bad taste not to be a socialist. Being a capitalist is so crass. What is socialism? Placing checks on poverty and placing checks on wealth. Why? Because poverty is ugly and opulence is obscene. What do the poor and rich have in common? They can't stop thinking about money. It is the goal of socialism to free us from the bad taste of always thinking about money.