I shouldn't post before I've had tea.

I do believe some form of socialist model will ultimately be adopted on a global scale, if for no other reason than to manage and sustain global resources for the future. Right now, those "in charge" of our global resources aren't exactly doing such a bang up job of it.

There are good examples of practical applications of moderate forms of socialism that have worked, just not all in one country at one time. There have been successes in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Cuba, Venezuela, just to name a few. In the wake of the Sandinista revolution, good progress was being made on several fronts before the US led contra war destroyed the momentum. The US found the Sandinistas particularly threatening because they were attempting to do a mixed sort of economy, combining both socialist and moderate capitalist run industries.

As I said elsewhere, I don't hold out much hope that the US will get beyond this current stage of corruption. If the US economy implodes after all these years of deregulation and banditry, we are done as a global power. And I think the US is far closer to that point than most think is even possible (in the "It Can't Happen Here" sort of vein).

I come from a part of the US where socialism is very much a part of the historic political fabric. Not MN as much as North Dakota and Wisconsin, but we have a pretty solid history of socialist and progressive movements here too. So I'm always somewhat taken aback when people are shocked, dismayed, and derisive of that history, just because they are so ignorant of the history and fearful that they might be viewed as crazy (see Rigs response) if they claim any of that as their political pedigree, especially here in the US in this dark era of duopoly rule.