Essay. Is socialism better than capitalism? TOEFL

 

There are different ways to rule a country. The most known systems are capitalism and socialism. Lately, some individuals have tried to make socialism look like the worst system due to the failure of some socialist governments around the world. But, is socialism really to be blamed for of the tragedies of a country? Is capitalism the best option for a country? I would like to give my opinion about this topic in the subsequent paragraphs.

I remember when I was in a class and I mixed up two terms, socialism and communism. Suddenly, my classmate corrected me and my teacher agreed. This is what happens to the average person, they tend to confuse both meanings. Wikipedia defines socialism as a “political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole”. Wikipedia also mentions communism as “a philosophical, social, political and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic order structured upon the ideas of common ownership”. Therefore, socialism tries to decrease class struggle and communism tries to remove it. On the other hand, capitalism is “an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” (Oxford Languages).

These systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. Capitalism allows people to increase their capital no matter what and because of that we are currently seeing the consequences, for example, climate change. In addition, it is hard for a poor person to escape from poverty in a system like this. The state tries to help the working class in socialism. However, this class of people can get accustomed to receiving government assistance and therefore become unwilling to join the workforce because everything is provided by the state. The government can also take advantage of their privileges and try to stay in power. Because of the above, it is hard to declare the best system for a country. There are some politicians in my country who say that they believe a blending of both systems. Maybe this is the solution for our problems. But, the problem of our countries is not due to the kind of system that we have, but corruption.

To sum it up, every political system has advantages and disadvantages. The problems that we face in Latin America are not about the system of government that we have, but corruption. We need governments that really care about the people and not about robbing the country’s resources.