The idea that a socialist nation is necessarily bereft of personal freedoms is ludicrous. The idea that a capitalist nation, by virtue of its economics, assures personal freedom is equally ludicrous. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Georgia's anti-sodomy law, the jack-booted thugs that you fear took one step closer to the bedroom. When it upheld the right of states to randomly stop drivers or set up "check points" to randomly test a drivers sobriety, those same jack-booted thugs reached in to pull you out of the drivers seat. Capitalism can exist in totalitarian countries, just as socialism can exist in democratic countries.About you misconception of the Marxist view on personal property -- He meant that the major means of production would not be owned by individuals, but the state, not that you couldn't own a house or that an artisan couldn't own his/her tools. Clear enough?
And about those socialists you know, maybe they are just in it to be different (are these college students we're talking about?) I came to this a little later in life, not to be different, but because I see that capitolism necessarily exploits the worker, as a function of its existence.
And about utopia, well, we all know that will never come to pass. But I do find it sad that people have stopped even trying to make it happen, for that, I think, is part of the beauty of the human spirit -- not that we're perfect, or that we ever really think that we can be, but that we constantly try to improve. Without that, decay and decadance will certainly be our fate.
Che
