ignorant tea bags should read this
Newsflash: Socialism Makes Your Life Better Every Single Day
October 19, 2015Matt Terzi Economics
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It seems there are a great many people in this country who fail to comprehend the differences between communism and socialism. Both words get thrown around all willy-nilly in the United States, thanks largely to the “Red Scare” and our 45-year cold war with the Soviet Union. It doesn’t help that Hitler, the Soviet Union, China, and others generally deemed by many Americans as “the bad guys” have misused the word “socialism,” too.
So what is socialism, really? How is socialism used by so many countries around the world — countries like Canada, England, France, Denmark, and Sweden — on a daily basis?
With socialism, the government assumes control of the production and distribution of various goods and/ or (most commonly) services, typically because either there’s no profit motive for the private sector, or the people deem that a service should be considered a fundamental right of citizenship and that no person or corporation should profit from that service, on moral grounds.
The United States, like so many other modern countries around the globe, has what’s called a “mixed economy.” That means the government provides some services to all citizens equally, while the private sector provides other goods and services for profit. You wouldn’t want the government providing you with clothes designed by a committee of politicians any more than you’d want privately-owned police departments, who would only protect the people who could afford expensive “police insurance” and would consider owning a gun to be a “preexisting condition.”
Police and fire departments, roads, bridges, those roads and bridges being cleared of snow, the military, Medicare/ Medicaid, the regulatory agencies that keep our air and water clean and inspect our food so we aren’t accidentally poisoned, public schools… these are all examples of socialist programs we use in America every day. We have a “mixture” of socialism and capitalism… hence our “mixed economy.”
So what’s the difference between the US and, say, Denmark? Denmark tweaks their “mixture” a little bit; they use more socialism than we do. But they still have money and jobs. They still buy products and still need to pay their bills. Mathilde has a nicer house and drives a nicer car than Kristoffer, because Mathilde works harder and has earned more money. The big difference? Neither Mathilde or Kristoffer could potentially lose everything and end up in the poor house because of a health issue, and both of them were able to go to college for free. And their kids? They attend daycare services while they’re working, and neither Mathilde or Kristoffer needs to pay a dime for that.
At the end of the day, that aforementioned “mixture” is really what Senator Bernie Sanders is talking about when he mentions socialism. The United States already has a number of socialist programs at the local, State, and Federal levels. Bernie Sanders simply wants to tweak the mixture, so the government provides more of those services, services the private sector is quite frankly incapable or too immoral to provide. Services that every American should have free, unfettered access to, like healthcare, a college education, and childcare services.
If Bernie Sanders wins the presidency, there’s a good chance that America will change in some big ways. Of course, Sanders has been clear – that will take a political revolution to bring a wave of progressives into the Congress, as well. But if that progressive wave takes place, starting with the election of Bernie Sanders, then every American citizen could have access to health care, and perhaps no more Americans will go bankrupt because of a medical condition. A college education could be granted for free to every American citizen, just as a high school education is today. And working parents may not need to spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars per year on child care services, because those services will also be free. And all of this can be paid for without raising your taxes… unless you’re a billionaire or you spend a great deal of time trading on Wall Street, anyway.
But despite those big changes, America won’t change in the ways some of you are worried about. We’ll still rent apartments or own homes. We’ll still buy the clothes, food, and other goods we buy now. We’ll all still have jobs, and yes, we’ll need to continue to work hard and achieve intellectual success to really pull ahead. America would be a better place, but it wouldn’t really be a different place. And if we all take the time to truly learn what socialism actually is, and how these other countries around the world benefit from it, we’ll quickly come to the conclusion that disavowing socialism is making America a worse place, and as someone who loves this country, I’m getting pretty fed up with watching that happen. Aren’t you? |
