My response to a socialist who thinks we socialists need to be more open with our ideas…

I think that is a good idea that socialists finally stand up and speak for ourselves instead of letting the Tea Baggers and every other two-bit capitalist apologist from Obama to Alan Greenspan define who we are and what we stand for. We also need to articulate in great detail socialist solutions to our many problems.

The catalyst for all real change of benefit to working people has always come from the left.

So, why isn't the left bringing forward real solutions to problems as part of explaining what socialists think? For some reason, the left in this country is unable or unwilling to speak to the American people with a united voice for real change.

For instance; I think we need to ask why the left has not developed some very common solutions to basic problems... health care and childcare come to mind... housing could easily be included.

But, we need to be explaining how unemployment can be addressed by putting people to work solving the problems we face... end the wars and free up funds for a national public health care system that will create around ten-million jobs staffing and maintaining 30,000 neighborhood health care centers providing people with free health care... instead of 800 U.S. military bases spread out across the globe protecting Wall Street's interests courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, we would build 800 health care bases enabling a neighborhood system of healthcare centers to flourish.

Public education works in this way and it works well.

We wouldn't trust the "free market" to teach our kids to read and write why would we trust the "free market" to provide adequate health care when we know Wall Street's only incentive is to turn a profit for its coupon clippers.

I have traveled widely talking with people about this kind of approach and people would even find it acceptable to finance a health care system the same way we finance Social Security... but, the struggle should be to redistribute wealth to pay for universal social programs by "taxing the hell out of the rich."

Here in one small paragraph we articulate socialist thinking yet our socialist organizations have trouble agreeing to bring this concept forward as part of a united platform for real change.

What would be the result if every single socialist (and I use the word in the very broadest sense) were to wage a campaign in their local newspapers and other media expressing this kind of approach? Would we not be building a leftwing version of the Tea Party movement that would become a real force to be reckoned with? Do we really need these "Progressives for Obama" to articulate socialist positions so that when they go off confused supporting a worthless flim-flam man and con artist like Obama we can not articulate our socialist positions using the mainstream media?
We need a similar approach to childcare and housing.

I agree with you completely; the American people need to hear from us socialists what socialism really is. Are we socialists up for the challenge?