One day I was speaking to a girl from the United Kingdom who was married to an American. Both she and her husband were students in the United States. She told me if she had children, she wanted to have them back in the United Kingdom, as her hospitalization would be almost entirely paid for.
Democratic socialism is about a government giving services to its citizens to help them. These services include medical care, education, and other social programs. A democratic socialist society has the freedom to elect its government officials. National socialism is the form of socialism that the Nazi party practiced in Germany from about 1933 to 1945.
Table of Contents
- What Is Democratic Socialism?
- What Is National Socialism?
- Differences Between National Socialism And Democratic Socialism Explained
- Related Questions
What Is Democratic Socialism?
A democratic socialist country or practices democratic socialism believes that the government should provide a range of essential services to the public free of charge or at a discount. Many of these services are usually health care and education.
Under democratic socialism, the government does not control the economy or the lives of individuals. Instead, there is a belief that the government should help provide some basic needs for all the citizens so that all citizens have a chance of success.
The definition of democratic socialism can be further defined to include:
- Democratically Elected Government – Democratic socialism would have a democratically elected government.
- Property Held By The Public – In democratic socialism, the property is held by the democratically elected government, such as major industries, hospitals, utilities, and transportation systems.
- Government Regulations – The government will regulate some of the economies.
- Rejection Of Pure Socialism – Democratic socialism is not the same as pure socialism, and democratic socialist countries usually reject socialism but instead understand that there are some services that the government can provide better to help give more equality in society.
There has been a debate in America about democratic socialism and its benefits. Many Americans feel that services like health care or a reduced higher education rate for University studies would benefit everyone.
Many European and western countries have adopted democratic socialism to some extent and have seen success in their economies. These countries include Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.
What Is National Socialism?
National Socialism is most often referred to as the ideology of the Nazi Party or Nazism that ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. The term socialism was also used for several other groups, but today it is the term most often used to refer to the Nazis and their ideology.
Under the Nazi regime, the term ”nationalist” meant the nation or national, and the term socialism referred to the doctrine that there was to be fairness and equality for all the members of the nation – except, of course, those that the Nazis considered not to be part of their state as the Jews, homosexuals, and others.
Nazism can best be defined as fascism that disliked liberal democracy and the parliamentary system of government. Nazism had antisemitism, anti-communism, and particular kinds of racism; Nazism became an extreme form of nationalism in Germany from about 1920 to 1945.
National Socialism was used to create a new society that rejected Marxism and pure socialism but also rejected a free-market capitalist society. It was a movement that set off a wave of nationalism in Germany as never before.
At the core of this belief by the Nazis was the systematic state-sponsored persecution of the Jews and other groups. At least six million Jewish men, women, and children died at the hands of the Nazi regime.
At the core of the beliefs of National Socialism is that the Germans were ”racially superior” to others, and they wanted to create a kind of nationalist utopia or a” racially pure” state that included only Germans. Jews were considered inferior and a threat to Germany’s so-called” racially pure” society.
The Nazis did not limit their killings to just the Jewish population. Still, they also wanted to eradicate others they considered inferior as Roma (Gypsies), Germans with disabilities, Slavic people as Poles and Russian, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists, Socialists, homosexuals and anyone who went against their National Socialism policies.
The Nazi’s National Socialism beliefs and the regime were brutal; since Nazism, all governments have stayed away from the National Socialism policies. There continue to be fringe groups that hold many of these beliefs in, particular groups known as ”Neo-Nazis.”
Differences Between National Socialism And Democratic Socialism Explained
National Socialism and Democratic Socialism are two very different ideals. It is hard to find two types of socialism at opposite ends of their core values and belief systems.
The main focus of Democratic Socialism is to work within the framework of democratically elected officials. In a democratic society, the individuals have the freedoms of movement and economy of other societies, except their taxes usually pay for additional social services, including free education and health care.
In a Democratic Socialism, the public sector will work beside the private sector, in that if you need health care, you can choose if you want to go to a government hospital or to pay for a private doctor. Individuals in these societies have full freedom of choice to decide.
National socialism is a very different kind of socialism. National socialism is about the beliefs of the Nazi regime that rejected socialism and capitalism. At the core of national socialism is fascism and the belief that one group or individual was superior to another; in the case of the Nazi regime, it was about trying to build a ”pure” German society that included no Jews or other unwanted groups.
Under national socialism policies, even the Germans had their rights and freedoms infringed upon. Many Germans who disagreed with Hilter and the Nazi policies were killed as” enemies” of the state.
The world can look back at the time in history when national socialism had risen to power and see the dangers that can happen when one group or groups of individuals start to want to use politics as the national socialism theory to justify killing innocent men, women, and children.
On the other hand, many countries that practice democratic socialism have complete and total freedom, but additional state-sponsored services help improve their citizens’ lives and livelihoods.
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Related Questions
Is It True America Is Both Capitalist And Socialist?
America is considered both a capitalist and socialist economy; America is deemed to have a mixed economy which means it has both capitalist and socialist characteristics. Having a mixed economy is essential because there are some things that we need the government to intervene with for the public good.
By clicking here, you can discover Is It True America Is Both Capitalist And Socialist?
Why Do People Think “Socialism Is When The Government Does Stuff”?
Socialism is not about the government doing stuff for us. The principle of Socialism is about private ownership vs. public ownership. Socialism believes that for true freedom and true equality, the only way to do this is to have the state have ownership to help the working class. Socialism believes that people should collectively work together and all share in the fruits of their labor.
By clicking here, you can discover Why Do People Think “Socialism Is When The Government Does Stuff”?.
Is It True America Is Both Capitalist And Socialist?
America is considered both a capitalist and socialist economy; America is deemed to have a mixed economy which means it has both capitalism and socialism characteristics. Having a mixed economy is essential because there are some things that we need the government to intervene with for the public good.
By clicking here, you can discover Is It True America Is Both Capitalist And Socialist?
