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I know, Roody. I do get carried away with that stuff. And I really don't expect the world to change for the better in my lifetime. I'll get off my soapbox, now, and just ride.
No, no, I LOVE you on your soapbox. you just don't want to let the perfect drive away the good. :)
You're getting a little carried away to equate modern wage slaves -- who often own three cars and a boat -- to actual slaves, past and present. Our American ancestors who were slaves would dispute your happy view of their condition. And most contemporary Americans don't view themselves as slaves, either. Your Marxist generalizations have a quaint 19th century feel to them.
I said they were better off in some ways, maybe I should have said a few ways. That doesn't mean I have a 'happy view of their condition'. In the case of wage slaves with all the cars and boats and whatnot, I'd say just because the cage is guilded makes it no less a cage.
Again, you're getting carried away. The environmental situation today is vastly better than it would have been without the passage of pollution regulations in the 1970s. Keep in mind that these regulations are expiring, and we need to keep the pressure on to continue them, and to make them more effective.
That may be true, but it seems it was not enough. And the response of many polluting industries was to either continue to pollute, pay the fines and pass the cost on to the consumer, or move their operations to countries without pollution control laws resulting in a loss of jobs here and the same amount of pollution overall.
How long is it going to take to create your utopian socialist system, especially given that there is little "bottom-up" pressure for it's creation? Are you sure that it's prudent to establish a new social order before we tackle the problems of the day?
This flavor of socialism has been around since the mid 19th century as theory and it hasn't come into existence yet. I really don't expect it to happen in the next 100 years and by then, the earth will be a very different place with far fewer inhabitants. This is a shame, since it would obviate most of the current problems of the day. There would still be problems of course, great challeges, but a truely democratic mechanism would be in place to meet those challenges and the human and material resources freed from capitalist waste would provide the wherewithall.
For this type of socialism to come into existence a vast majority, globally, would have to understand what it entails and want it. And what are the chances of that happening with several billion people? I used to work with a socialist organization to promote that, but once I saw the futility, I just didn't have the energy to continue fighting the good fight against all odds, just for the sake of fighting the good fight. But that doesn't change the way I think and feel, nor the conclusions that my research has brought me too.
The only people we can change is ourselves. Hopefully by presenting good ideas and being a good example, others will have the oportunity to make positive changes in their own life. :)