Just another word for... Socialism?

by: Mike Hoefer

Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 00:19:21 AM EST

From the Concord Monitor

At the Epsom Central School's Veterans Day assembly, Gordon Ellis asked students to repeat five words: socialism, communism, progressivism, totalitarianism and liberalism. He hoped to illustrate what he calls "enemies of the Constitution," but instead Ellis confused the kids, angered townspeople and ended his tenure as the head of the school board.

This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism

"Different people have different meanings of the word 'liberalism,' " he said. "Mine is that it's just another word for socialism. The end result is the same against the Constitution

Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis, "of freedom") is the belief in the importance of individual liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as constitutions, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, fair trade, and the separation of church and state. These ideas are widely accepted, even by political groups that do not openly profess a liberal ideological orientation. Liberalism encompasses several intellectual trends and traditions, but the dominant variants are classical liberalism, which became popular in the eighteenth century, and social liberalism, which became popular in the twentieth century.Wikipedia

Socialism is an economic and political theory advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources. As an economic system, socialism is a system of production based on the direct production of use-values by allocating economic inputs (the means of production) and investments through planning to directly satisfy economic demand. Economic calculation is based on either calculation-in-kind or a direct measure of labour time, output for individual consumption is distributed through markets, and distribution of income is based on individual merit or individual contribution.Wikipedia

This seems to go back to something that was allegedly said by Norman Thomas, picked up by Reagan and I'm sure Glenn Beck.