Duh?

I wrestle with how one answers questions like this.

I could ask in my turn:

do you believe in Monday?

do you believe in the future?

do you believe in human nature?

What is this supposed to mean?

I believe socialism is a system.

So is capitalism.

And feudalism.

And democracy.

Do I believe in them?

Well, I believe they are definitely systems.

Economic or political systems.

Each has its own characteristics.

Depending upon your goals and values you can assess whether those characteristics are ‘good for your goals’ or ‘bad for your goals’.

Capitalism is the most effective system hands down for generating wealth.

I personally don’t think poverty is a virtue, although some religious teachings would suggest it is.

But capitalism has some other characteristics which I don’t consider to be good (for the goals I espouse).

So I like to mix some socialism in with capitalism to help balance out some the characteristics of capitalism that I don’t like.

But ‘believe in socialism’?

What does that even mean?

Do I believe in the goals of socialism?

Do I believe in the methods of socialism?

Do I believe in the hopes and dreams of socialism, which may or may not be its goals?

Do I believe in the results of socialism?

I suspect what is being asked is:

Do you believe in the cause of socialism?

Which as far as I can tell, when asked by someone who asks this sort of question in this way, is code for; do you believe everyone should be made to live under a system of socialism?

That I can answer.

No I don’t.

Socialism by itself doesn’t generate enough wealth. That’s why the Soviet Union broke down, and China converted a large part of its economy to capitalism to generate more wealth.

I hope that suffices.