Sunday, January 31, 2016

Defining Socialism


Alec Dea
Professor Datcher
Blog
31 January 2016

            “Socialism” is one of those words that strikes fear deep into the hearts of the American people.  Ironically enough, the average American cannot even define accurately the term “socialism”.  How can Americans be scared by something of which they know nothing about?  One of the many mind-blowing talking points of the 2016 presidential election is the credibility, or the lack there of, of the self-described democratic socialist, Bernie Sanders.  He is one of the most polarizing presidential candidates in my lifetime.  He proposes many foreign ideas that the typical American politician would not even consider.  Consequently, instead of breaking down Bernie Sanders’ proposals and plans, people often dismiss his credibility because he is a “socialist.”  Personally, I did not know much about the concept of socialism until I started following Bernie Sanders.  We tend to think of socialism as an oppressive force akin to communism, even though it is much more conservative than communism.  Socialism focuses on the economic and social arenas of public life.  However, it tends to be conflated with a dictatorial style of big government.  Obama often found himself attached to the label of socialism by critics who disagreed with Obamacare.  In fact, socialism states that the means of production in a country are to be publicly owned, and under Obamacare, private health insurance companies still hold a substantial amount of power.  Another common misrepresentation of socialism is that it entails a literal redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor via taxes.  Even if this were true, we still must distinguish between socialism and Bernie’s idea of  “democratic socialism”, which he states is a quasi form of socialism where the state enacts socialist policies in conjunction with free market capitalism in an attempt to balance power.  The goal of democratic socialism is to see that big corporate bureaucracies do not run our country, hence the term “democratic”. 
            What’s ironic about our country’s disdain for socialism is that the two most successful government programs in the history of our country are socialist programs: Social security and Medicare.  In addition, Medicaid, the construction and upkeep of roads, clean water, the VA, and even the military are all socialist practices.  Realizing these facts shows how paradoxical it is when Americans continuously demonize socialism.  We would not be where we are as a country if it weren’t for these socialist practices.  Consequently, it becomes evident that Bernie Sanders’ ideas for our country can be simply seen as a step in the right direction, building on the successes from our current policies.  He wants to advance Medicare to a single payer health system that includes a Medicare for all system where Americans don’t go bankrupt trying to pay their medical bills.  He wants to expand the safety net for social security.  He wants to rebuild our infrastructure and improve the efficiency of our VA system.  I see this as an attempt to improve our current system, not an evil, revolutionary overhaul of the United States.  In addition, Bernie has incessantly stated that a simple overview of his plan dictates that we want the private sector to do what it does best, and the government to do what it does best.  If we look back at history, Bernie’s plans would complete the vision FDR had for our country.   FDR’s brilliant New Deal plan focused on relieving the economic hardships of the poor and reforming the financial system to avoid potential depressions.  The New Deal became the staple of “Progressivism”, but now, these ideas seen through a Bernie Sanders lens elicit fearful responses of a socialist takeover.  The GOP’s beloved Dwight Eisenhower had a 92% marginal tax rate under his administration.   Our country’s history shows that we have implemented socialist ideas, even under some of our most famous leaders.  If the American people take the time to look into the facts, we will see that Bernie’s idea of “democratic socialism” is not so foreign and dangerous as his opponents would like us to think.  But rather, it is our political equilibrium, which has shifted so far to the right, that distorts our ability to determine what would be beneficial and detrimental for the country.   

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