You say "socialist" with such venom, like it's a bad thing or something...

I like being social.

I do think it's a bad thing. It's an incredibly wasteful economic system that, in many cases, perpetrates dramatic social injustice in the name of promoting justice. It's about to bankrupt Europe and California too. It also manages to take away a good 8-10% of each of my paychecks to provide "services" which will never, ever benefit me and which have nebulous benefits to other citizens. So no, I don't like it.

Well, at least you admit its not a bad thing. Do you have to be so individualistic about it all? Kinda egocentric, don'tya think?

Any system that bankrupts Europe can't be all bad. Whoever is the enemy of the French is my friend.

Individualistic? Socialism is one of the most individualistic of all economic philosophies. It _requires_ and _assumes_ the elimination of all forms of community--the family, the church, and voluntary social organizations.

It does not follow from the elimination of all forms of community that socialism is individualistic. The church and the family are designed as covenantal structures; as such, they provide the only valid meausure of worth for the individual. There is more than one way to eliminate these particular forms of community. Either elevate the individual beyond the confines of these communities, or suppress the individual to the extent that these communities are robbed of all substance.