@lucillelucillelucille As much as that appeals to my libertarian leanings, experience teaches me that nations are far less likely to control themselves rationally when left rudderless than are speedboats. The nation will no more drive itself successfully than will a typical automobile. Just like a driver-less car with the accelerator jammed down, it will soon end up in a catistrophic wreck unless steered.
I think a system that incorporates the best of what capitalism and socialism have to offer would be as good as we are likely to get at this stage in human development.
Capitalism and private enterprise are the best answer for innovation. Market pressures have the effect of guiding free enterprise toward providing what people want and need, whereas bureaucracies often get ossified providing what they provide simply because that is what they do and change is troublesome.
Socialist systems are best for delivering things everyone must have for any sort of decent life—defense, justice, police, fire protection, health care, roads and bridges, air transportation control, electric power, utilities, education. If these necessities are privatized, the urge to maximize profits is coupled to delivery of a resource it is difficult or impossible to live without, and prices go through the roof. Soon, only the wealthy can live at anything like a decent standard. We are seeing that now in heathcare.
Focusing on really educating our young would be a vital part of making such a system work. Our biggest obstacle right now is that the wealthy have controlled politics long enough to have sold the general public on a series of memes that are false and are designed to preserve and improve the lot of the elite class. We are heading for an oligarchy. Without a well-educated public capable of understanding why a flat tax will turn America into a banana republic in a short time, voters will vote for the flat tax. It’s easy to work. They will not be able to calculate that it will soon transfer all that they own to the very wealthy.