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Two-party system? Failed experiments in Eastern Europe? Has De Klerk lost his mind too?
I don't think there's an American alive who doesn't wish there were a third party of some credence. The two-party system is horrid, and fortunately the UK is slowly edging towards a three-party system. I'd be happier with four or five.
There is no way in the world that two parties can adequately represent the views of a diverse nation. A two-party system leads to complacency: what's there to fight for? You're guaranteed at least 30% of the vote just because you're not the other guy.
Of course there are still communists and socialists in South African politics: There are still communists and socialists in South Africa. There will still be communists and socialists in South Africa all the while that people are starving, dying of preventable diseases and walking a mile to a polluted water source.
"Failed experiments in Eastern Europe". I'm sure that two generations of Europeans will be glad to hear that De Klerk thinks that they are the progeny of a failed experiment. "It's all okay now, folks, we're done experimenting with you, you go off and be real people now, FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY AND GLORIOUS CAPITALISM HAVE COME TO RESCUE YOU."
The problem with Eastern Europe's mid-to-late-20th Century politics was much less the communism and the socialism and much more the facism. It's no coincidence that "communism" and "community" share a root.
Don't get me wrong: I'm no communist. I'm definitely a Socialist, if a Champagne Socialist. Most of Europe is socialist today. The UK is socialist, Germany is Socialist. The second largest economy in the world is Socialist.
I will continue to support Socialism in South Africa until every last citizen has access to running water, sanitary toilets and a high school education. Until that day comes, rabid capitalism can only harm us.
It's ten years after democracy, but paying back all of those apartheid-era loans De Klerk has conveniently forgotten about has gotten in the way of bringing essential services to the people. When both evils of apartheid are taken care of, then we can look to fewer "government hand-outs", but until that day comes, Viva Socialism!
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