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There are libertarian socialists. If a society can be libertarian, then there can be a libertarian
socialism.

There can be a state-socialism, which is statist, rather than socialist, just as there can be
an anarcho-communism which is not an authoritarian communism. The way so many see
socialism, it may very well be that "libertarian socialism" is, for so many, an oxymoron. For
me, however, authentic socialism is libertarian, rather than statist, just as genuine
communism is anarchist, rather than totalitarian and authoritarian.

A lot of people believe that socialism and liberty are diametrically opposed. But, this is
an unexamined belief, an unquestioned and unstudied belief. Whether or not socialism
and liberty are diametrically antithetical and antagonistic depends on how you define and
conceive socialism. I understand and interpret socialism as both libertarian and democratic.
I conceive of a libertarian society as an anarchist society, just as I conceive of a true and real
democratic society as a stateless society.

There are many who believe that socialism is nothing more than state-sanctioned slavery.
To this I would answer that every state sanctions slavery -- whether it be a so-called minimal
state (a minimal-security state) or a maximum state, a monstrous fascist state (a maximum-
security state). To the degree that a laissez-faire liberal state exists, to that degree slavery
exists as a sanctioned institution. When the United States was constituted, chattel-slavery
and wage-slavery co-existed together. When the Civil War ended, chattel-slavery was ended;
but, wage-slavery has not yet been abolished.

You may define socialism the way you want to; and, I'll define socialism the way I want to.
I'll define socialism in a way that I can both defend and support. When I advocate socialism,
it is your responsibility and obligation, as a conscientious and capable reader, to know what
I mean by what I advocate, to respect what I mean by socialism when I espouse socialism.

"A world of vested interests is not a world which welcomes the disruptive force of candor."
-- Agnes Repplier