SOCIALISTS....us?

The modern and most sensible definition of socialism is a system of government somewhere between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.

That being said, we already have several institutions that could be defined as "socialistic."

Many of our Founding Fathers were socialists.

They believed that “essential” services should be provided by government to the public at large for little or no remuneration.

The costs of these services would be shared by the whole. This, by modern definiton, is socialism.

Section 8 of Article I, for example, empowers Congress to establish Post Offices and post roads (Highways).

That same Section also authorizes Congress “To raise and support Armies,” and even “To provide and maintain a Navy.”
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams — among others — all signed this document.

The Congress socialized the great bulk of America’s navigable waterways in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Article I of the 1787 Constitution provided this most important channel of commerce.

The national government, using this authority, opened America’s internal waterways to commerce.

These immense “social” highways proved a boon to private entrepreneurial activities.

Libraries, Fire Departments, the U.S Post Office, police protection and education were all socialized in the nineteenth century

Everyone in the military gets government provided housing, health care, and even government clothing. The military is the most "socialist" institution we have.

Organized religion is tax-free, making it one of the largest and wealthiest, "socialistic" institutions in this country.

As for the people that won't work to contribute their fair share, they should go hungry, like most of the rest of the world.

We have plenty of laws against freeloading but don't enforce them.

I guess we are already socialistic to a degree and when private entities (giant corporations) or individuals take advantage of it, we all suffer the consequences.

We don't need more laws, we need to enforce the ones we already have in place.