Post by the Scribe on Oct 6, 2022 23:21:26 GMT
The United States is a socialist country.
www.toptentopia.com/10-most-popular-socialist-policies-in-the-usa/
Despite political chit chat against socialism in America, the United States has been a socialist country all along. Socialism is written into the constitution. Here are the 10 most popular socialist policies in USA history.
Political speeches and advertisements invoke the most extreme – and usually misleading – rhetoric. The debate over socialism in the United States is a prime example of how the truth has been ignored or distorted by both conservatives and liberals. The conservative argument seeks to instill a fear of socialism in its voting base. The liberal argument asks voters to see a better future through benign socialist policies.
In reality the United States of America has been a socialist country since the beginning. What conservatives describe when arguing against socialism is any type of dictatorship or totalitarian government, where national leaders use their police and military forces to punish and imprison citizens. The Soviet Union’s official name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Nazi party’s name was National Socialists German Workers Party. Conservatives and dictators often adopt or invoke the name “socialist” for political reasons, but their policies are anything but socialist.
The United States has always been a socialist country, right from the very beginning. Socialist policies are written into the constitution. When political candidates argue about preventing the United States from becoming socialist – or argue for turning to socialism – they ignore the truth of this country’s history and constitution.
The United States will never abandon socialism. It would be impossible to remain a nation without socialist policies managing and defending our rights, well-being, and freedoms.
Socialism isn’t dictatorship and dictatorship isn’t socialism. Capitalism has co-existed alongside socialism in the United States since 1776.
1 – The U.S. Post Office
The most popular social service in United States history is unquestionably the Postal Service. It was created by the founders through the constitution. It cannot be eliminated by an act of Congress or a Presidential executive order.
The United States government is obligated to deliver the mail everywhere in the country and its territories, equally as much as it is obligated to defend all U.S. territory.
Millions of people depend on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver medicines and vital supplies every month. When you buy things from Amazon, Target, Walmart, and other online retailers who ship products to your home, they’ll often use the USPS to deliver the goods to your door or mailbox.
Despite some conservatives’ attempts to paint the Postal Service as a money-losing enterprise, it’s not a business. It’s a constitutionally mandated service. Every person in the country has a constitutional right to send and receive mail, and it is the responsibility of the USPS to ensure those rights are honored.
You have the freedom to use alternative delivery services, but they are not obligated to take your money. Except for items forbidden by law, you have the right to mail or receive anything through the U.S. Postal Service. You cannot be denied mail service.
2 – Libraries
School libraries and public libraries remain very popular with the public. Although the Internet makes it easier to read information from your cell phone or computer, libraries still serve an important role in communities across the country.
Libraries provide low income families with access to computers, books, and other services. They supplement the reading materials used by schools. And they provide entertainment.
Society needs libraries but libraries are expensive and largely unprofitable. A few private libraries still exist but most private libraries established in the 1700s and 1800s were either closed down or converted to public libraries.
3 – Public Parking
There are private parking facilities all across the country where you pay a fee to leave your vehicle for a while. There are private parking lots where you can park for free while visiting local businesses. These are examples of hybrid socialism, where privately-owned resources are used for the public good.
But there are also government-owned parking facilities that the public can use. Many communities allow anyone to park on most streets – although heavily used streets may have parking meters.
Because so many American families own at least 1 vehicle, the demand for public parking is massive. Fewer people would drive cars if free or low-cost public parking were not available nearly everywhere.
4 – Utility Systems
Most water treatment plants in the United States are owned by state or local governments. A majority of the electrical power used by the country is also generated by government entities.
Sewage treatment plants are also government-owned facilities, except in a few rare cases.
While telephone, cable, and cellular service networks are privately owned and managed, they are regulated by federal, state, and many local government agencies. Any resource designated as a public utility must comply with laws that guarantee fair and equal access to all citizens.
You are reading this article because government regulation – socialism – made it possible for you to do so.
5 – Roads and Highways
Nearly all the millions of miles of roads in the United States are owned by local, state, or the national government. Private roads do exist, especially in rural areas.
In the 1800s the fastest transportation systems – railroads – were nearly all privately owned. Imagine what life would be like today if you had to pay a fee every time you drove to work. In large metropolitan areas express highways and lanes do charge fees for access, but drivers can choose to drive for free on public roads.
Of course, vehicle owners pay taxes to support the construction and maintenance of roads. Roadways are among the most popular socialist resources people use.
Some railway services are now owned and managed by state and local governments, too. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to provide passenger rail services to all Americans.
6 – Other Healthcare
Despite conservative rhetoric lamenting the welfare state, government-provided healthcare is considered vital for the good of the entire country. There is no welfare state but there are many state and federal programs that ensure children, chronically ill people, and the elderly have access to regular minimal healthcare.
Millions of military veterans receive healthcare from the Veterans Administration’s hospitals across the country. While the VA hospital system has experienced problems, it has served the needs of millions.
For that matter, millions of military service personnel and their families are cared for by government hospital systems, too. And during times of emergency (including the 2020 pandemic, large floods, and massive storms) state and federal military hospitals may be activated to serve the public needs.
Programs like Medicare (single-payer insurance for the elderly), Medicaid (state-managed single-payer programs for low income families and individuals), and the Affordable Care Act health plan marketplaces (providing subsidies to families and individuals who lack employer-provided insurance) ensure that nearly all Americans have access to adequate, minimal healthcare.
7 – Emergency Healthcare
State and local governments have provided many medical services for generations. But the most important public healthcare law may be the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. This law – among other things – requires all hospitals in the country to provide emergency care to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. The law doesn’t relieve patients of the obligation to pay hospital bills, but it ensures that anyone who needs emergency medical attention will receive it.
The need for the law was clear because private health insurance doesn’t guarantee that every hospital will accept a patient in an emergency. Private health insurance is often touted as an advantage over socialist health care, but the truth is that private health insurance is regulated by state governments to prevent unfair and predatory behavior by insurers and healthcare providers.
The 1986 law leveled the playing field for everyone in a way that other laws failed to.
8 – Public Schools
Education has been a priority for Americans since before there was a United States. As the country’s population has grown, public education has become a major focus of political discourse and government policy.
Public school systems are funded at the state and local levels, except for military boot camps and academies, as well as several special law enforcement training programs. Even so, the federal budget includes subsidies for government school systems and private education.
America’s socialist education system is considered to be one of the best in the world. It could not have achieved that recognition without the benefit of socialist government policies.
9 – Local, State, and National Parks
Whether you’re just taking daily walks or camping out in the woods for a week, you’ve probably visited at least one park in the last year. All public parks are paid for by the government. They are used by the public and many even generate revenues.
Public parks are among the oldest socialist conventions in civilization. The United States has thousands of parks. The creation, maintenance, and use of public parks for major events ensures that everyone has free and fair access to outdoor venues in generally safe and healthy conditions.
10 – Police and Fire Services
Despite controversies regarding police behavior toward minorities, society depends on police forces to investigate violent crimes, arrest dangerous criminals, regulate the flow of traffic, and to protect citizens when they are danger.
Police officers are often called upon to perform many other duties, from welfare checks on aged, ill, and isolated individuals to rescuing stranded or abused animals, to searching for missing children. While the anger, pain, and fear minority communities feel and express is real and supported by historical evidence, society cannot exist without police forces.
Fire departments not only fight fires – they assist with community health care, intervene when hazardous materials are introduced to the environment, rescue people and animals, and perform other vital services.
These public service employees have saved countless millions of lives for over 2,000 years.
10. The Food and Drug Administration
There is no greater power that can be exerted over an individual than telling him or her what can be eaten or drank. This is exactly what the FDA does. In the name of public health and safety, the FDA was created in 1906. Since then, it has grown to encompass many different functions. It has the power to prohibit particular food and drugs from being sold or consumed. Once again, a power that should be left purely to market forces has been nationalized. This Department uses fear-mongering to justify its existence, but it serves no purpose other than to further control our lives.
Public Transportation & Security
In perhaps its most frivolous spending project, the government is involved in transportation in more than one facet. First of all, the government invests billions of dollars in projects like Amtrak, which is highly expensive and is therefore not at all able to compete with private carriers. Then there is the TSA, which invades our privacy and personal rights every time we choose to travel through an airport (something similar to the arrival to a designated checkpoint in a former Soviet state). Both are similar in that they represent an intrusion by the government into an area which should be exclusively left to the free market. Under the current model, government wastes our money and destroys our rights through its unnecessary entanglement.
Health Care
While Republicans have been decrying ObamaCare since the moment it was created, the healthcare system in the US has not been a truly free market in generations. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt prohibited wage increases, which led to workers demanding health insurance as an alternate form of compensation. Both Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965. They have both been thoroughly expanded in the time period since. As more Americans become insured (as they are mandated by the government to do so), prices increase and qualities decrease due to a larger pool and a broadening burden on doctors. Much like Social Security, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are heresy, even as the programs balloon out of control. Obamacare is socialism because even though there might be dozens of insurance companies, the product is designed and created in Washington D.C.
The Internal Revenue Service
Created in order to streamline collection of income taxes, the IRS is likely the most hated government entity in the US, and for good reason. No other government agency is able to thoroughly dismember the Bill of Rights in the way that the IRS does. The IRS demands that you report every personal detail, so that it may “fairly” decide how much you should pay in taxes. The tax system itself is the embodiment of class warfare, as wealthier individuals pay much higher rates. The IRS is powerful and pervasive; Americans as a whole spend millions of dollars and hours every year in an attempt to fill their taxes out correctly. Even the smallest discrepancy can be cause for an audit by the IRS, and if you are found to be hiding something from the government, you could be in jail for a long time.
Corporate Welfare
Supported ubiquitously on both sides of the aisle in Congress, while being vehemently opposed by almost every American citizen, corporate bailouts pick winners and losers in what should actually be a free market which punishes corporations that act badly. Worst of all, corporate bailouts are rarely labeled as such; they are often masked as programs designed to help the poor. As opposed to the incendiary, false designation of laissez-faire capitalism as “trickle-down economics,” this seems more apt to receive such a title. Government funnels billions of dollars into monstrous corporations, who are in turn are expected to turn over such gains to consumers. There are too many pro-big business government programs in existence to name them all, but it is safe to say that if a regulation is supposedly designed to target large corporations, such legislation will likely end up only applying to their smaller competitors, with many exceptions for the bigwigs themselves.
Government Schooling
Vladimir Lenin once said, “Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.” There has perhaps never been a more telling quote in regards to government entanglement in education. The US government has nearly monopolized schooling, as voucher programs have consistently been turned away in order to satisfy always-powerful unions. Schools have been regularly given more rigid national standards since the creation of the Department of Education through programs like No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Schools seem to continually move further away from the final goal of an adequate education, as they compete for federal funding through student success on endless standardized tests. The aforementioned unions make it almost impossible to fire ineffective teachers, preserving the status quo at any costs.
Farm Subsidies
In one of its most meddlesome market practices, the government provides farmers with extra government money if the state deems that those crops could not thrive in a market economy. This policy protects producers from competitors foreign and domestic, propping up corporate interests and passing the costs on to the American taxpayer. Subsidies also are a way in which government takes ownership over industry, allowing bureaucrats, rather than consumers, to make the decisions on which companies thrive in the marketplace.
Endless Wars
Said Randolph Bourne, “War is the health of the State. It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense.” While many modern-day conservatives seem to never want to cut a penny from the defense budget, it now takes up roughly $600 billion of the US Budget.
Though defense is perhaps the most important, or maybe the only thing that the US Government should do, it is impossible that there is not a more efficient way of using our resources. This growth has occurred in large part because of a post-World War II United States which intervenes far too often in conflicts which are not in our direct interest. Worse yet, these constant wars also help to create a society which too often allows violations of civil liberties and human rights, a hallmark of authoritarianism.
The Federal Reserve
Created in 1913, the Federal Reserve is the government’s ultimate institution that is “too big to fail.” It quietly steals dollar values from millions of Americans as inflation increases exponentially. In the meantime, it provides the government unlimited funds to enact other Socialist policies. Through its totalitarian influence, the government prohibits the use of any alternate currencies, acting quickly to squash such initiatives any time they may began to appear. Worse yet, the Federal Reserve acts without any type of check or balance and is given almost no scrutiny in its policy decisions, as it has evaded numerous audits in recent history, almost all of which were proposed by former Congressman Ron Paul.
Social Security
Social Security was begun in 1935 as a means of taking care of older generations. At the time, the minimum age set to receive full retirement benefits was 65, as the average life expectancy was only 61. However, as the topic has become more politicized and citizens have had more of their paychecks taken in the name of Social Security, it has become nearly impossible to raise the “retirement” age. Even as the average life expectancy has risen by nearly 20 years, the Social Security collection age has risen by only 2 years (for those born in 1960 or later). What has resulted is a program that forcibly takes from poorer, younger workers in order to give to older, wealthier retirees. Plans to partially privatize the system have been met with fierce hostility, but it appears that if the problem is not dealt with soon enough, Social Security will quickly become insolvent.
Should the US Become Socialist?
www.procon.org/headlines/american-socialism-top-2-pros-and-cons/
Pro 1
The US already has many successful and popular socialist policies.
A lot of everyday American policies are socialist: medicare, social security, the minimum wage, and child labor laws to name a few.
As Jack Schwartz, the late Newsday book editor and author explained, the Socialist Party platform of 1912 contained many policies Americans now wouldn’t think of as “socialist,” including: “An eight-hour workday at a decent wage, a public-works program for the jobless (realized later in the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration), safety regulations for workers in the mines and factories, a child-labor law, an old-age pension, unemployment and accident insurance, a graduated income tax, an inheritance tax, suffrage for women, a direct vote in national elections doing away with the electoral college, the creation of separate departments of health, education and labor, and a convention to revise the Constitution. The first of their political demands was absolute freedom of the press, speech and assembly.” [14]
If existing and proposed socialist policies are so heavily favored, they should be maintained.
Pro 2
The job of the US government is to enable and protect all of its citizens. More socialist policies can work with capitalist structures to undo the harm done by unfettered capitalism.
Capitalism has resulted in the top 1% of Americans holding more wealth (a combined net worth of $34.2 trillion, or 30.4% of all US wealth) than the bottom 50% of Americans ($2.1 trillion, or 1.9%). [22]
This disparity is not because billionaires work harder than those earning a minimum wage. Instead, rich Americans have more access and exposure to the stock market, and the Americans with the top 10% of wealth hold over 88% of all available equity in corporations and mutual fund shares (and the top 1% hold more than twice as much equity than the bottom 50% of Americans combined). And nationwide crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, only increase these disparities. [22]
Socialist policies, particularly a wealth tax, could redistribute wealth and aid Americans who have been penalized by a structurally inequitable system.
Those who support socialist policies believe the measures could “create a fairer, more generous system,” and “build upon… and improve capitalism.” Adding socialist policies isn’t an either/or debate against capitalism. Both systems can function together. [23]
Pro 3
The American public supports the implementation of more socialist policies.
In general, socialist policies are broadly supported by Americans: 69% support medicare-for-all. 63% support free public college tuition. 59% support raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. 85% support paid work leave for illness. 82% support paid maternity leave. 69% support paid paternity leave. 67% support paid leave to care for an ill family member. 74% support continued social security benefits without cuts. 66% support government-led environmental protections. And 64% support a wealth tax.
www.toptentopia.com/10-most-popular-socialist-policies-in-the-usa/
Despite political chit chat against socialism in America, the United States has been a socialist country all along. Socialism is written into the constitution. Here are the 10 most popular socialist policies in USA history.
Political speeches and advertisements invoke the most extreme – and usually misleading – rhetoric. The debate over socialism in the United States is a prime example of how the truth has been ignored or distorted by both conservatives and liberals. The conservative argument seeks to instill a fear of socialism in its voting base. The liberal argument asks voters to see a better future through benign socialist policies.
In reality the United States of America has been a socialist country since the beginning. What conservatives describe when arguing against socialism is any type of dictatorship or totalitarian government, where national leaders use their police and military forces to punish and imprison citizens. The Soviet Union’s official name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Nazi party’s name was National Socialists German Workers Party. Conservatives and dictators often adopt or invoke the name “socialist” for political reasons, but their policies are anything but socialist.
The United States has always been a socialist country, right from the very beginning. Socialist policies are written into the constitution. When political candidates argue about preventing the United States from becoming socialist – or argue for turning to socialism – they ignore the truth of this country’s history and constitution.
The United States will never abandon socialism. It would be impossible to remain a nation without socialist policies managing and defending our rights, well-being, and freedoms.
Socialism isn’t dictatorship and dictatorship isn’t socialism. Capitalism has co-existed alongside socialism in the United States since 1776.
1 – The U.S. Post Office
The most popular social service in United States history is unquestionably the Postal Service. It was created by the founders through the constitution. It cannot be eliminated by an act of Congress or a Presidential executive order.
The United States government is obligated to deliver the mail everywhere in the country and its territories, equally as much as it is obligated to defend all U.S. territory.
Millions of people depend on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver medicines and vital supplies every month. When you buy things from Amazon, Target, Walmart, and other online retailers who ship products to your home, they’ll often use the USPS to deliver the goods to your door or mailbox.
Despite some conservatives’ attempts to paint the Postal Service as a money-losing enterprise, it’s not a business. It’s a constitutionally mandated service. Every person in the country has a constitutional right to send and receive mail, and it is the responsibility of the USPS to ensure those rights are honored.
You have the freedom to use alternative delivery services, but they are not obligated to take your money. Except for items forbidden by law, you have the right to mail or receive anything through the U.S. Postal Service. You cannot be denied mail service.
2 – Libraries
School libraries and public libraries remain very popular with the public. Although the Internet makes it easier to read information from your cell phone or computer, libraries still serve an important role in communities across the country.
Libraries provide low income families with access to computers, books, and other services. They supplement the reading materials used by schools. And they provide entertainment.
Society needs libraries but libraries are expensive and largely unprofitable. A few private libraries still exist but most private libraries established in the 1700s and 1800s were either closed down or converted to public libraries.
3 – Public Parking
There are private parking facilities all across the country where you pay a fee to leave your vehicle for a while. There are private parking lots where you can park for free while visiting local businesses. These are examples of hybrid socialism, where privately-owned resources are used for the public good.
But there are also government-owned parking facilities that the public can use. Many communities allow anyone to park on most streets – although heavily used streets may have parking meters.
Because so many American families own at least 1 vehicle, the demand for public parking is massive. Fewer people would drive cars if free or low-cost public parking were not available nearly everywhere.
4 – Utility Systems
Most water treatment plants in the United States are owned by state or local governments. A majority of the electrical power used by the country is also generated by government entities.
Sewage treatment plants are also government-owned facilities, except in a few rare cases.
While telephone, cable, and cellular service networks are privately owned and managed, they are regulated by federal, state, and many local government agencies. Any resource designated as a public utility must comply with laws that guarantee fair and equal access to all citizens.
You are reading this article because government regulation – socialism – made it possible for you to do so.
5 – Roads and Highways
Nearly all the millions of miles of roads in the United States are owned by local, state, or the national government. Private roads do exist, especially in rural areas.
In the 1800s the fastest transportation systems – railroads – were nearly all privately owned. Imagine what life would be like today if you had to pay a fee every time you drove to work. In large metropolitan areas express highways and lanes do charge fees for access, but drivers can choose to drive for free on public roads.
Of course, vehicle owners pay taxes to support the construction and maintenance of roads. Roadways are among the most popular socialist resources people use.
Some railway services are now owned and managed by state and local governments, too. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to provide passenger rail services to all Americans.
6 – Other Healthcare
Despite conservative rhetoric lamenting the welfare state, government-provided healthcare is considered vital for the good of the entire country. There is no welfare state but there are many state and federal programs that ensure children, chronically ill people, and the elderly have access to regular minimal healthcare.
Millions of military veterans receive healthcare from the Veterans Administration’s hospitals across the country. While the VA hospital system has experienced problems, it has served the needs of millions.
For that matter, millions of military service personnel and their families are cared for by government hospital systems, too. And during times of emergency (including the 2020 pandemic, large floods, and massive storms) state and federal military hospitals may be activated to serve the public needs.
Programs like Medicare (single-payer insurance for the elderly), Medicaid (state-managed single-payer programs for low income families and individuals), and the Affordable Care Act health plan marketplaces (providing subsidies to families and individuals who lack employer-provided insurance) ensure that nearly all Americans have access to adequate, minimal healthcare.
7 – Emergency Healthcare
State and local governments have provided many medical services for generations. But the most important public healthcare law may be the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. This law – among other things – requires all hospitals in the country to provide emergency care to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. The law doesn’t relieve patients of the obligation to pay hospital bills, but it ensures that anyone who needs emergency medical attention will receive it.
The need for the law was clear because private health insurance doesn’t guarantee that every hospital will accept a patient in an emergency. Private health insurance is often touted as an advantage over socialist health care, but the truth is that private health insurance is regulated by state governments to prevent unfair and predatory behavior by insurers and healthcare providers.
The 1986 law leveled the playing field for everyone in a way that other laws failed to.
8 – Public Schools
Education has been a priority for Americans since before there was a United States. As the country’s population has grown, public education has become a major focus of political discourse and government policy.
Public school systems are funded at the state and local levels, except for military boot camps and academies, as well as several special law enforcement training programs. Even so, the federal budget includes subsidies for government school systems and private education.
America’s socialist education system is considered to be one of the best in the world. It could not have achieved that recognition without the benefit of socialist government policies.
9 – Local, State, and National Parks
Whether you’re just taking daily walks or camping out in the woods for a week, you’ve probably visited at least one park in the last year. All public parks are paid for by the government. They are used by the public and many even generate revenues.
Public parks are among the oldest socialist conventions in civilization. The United States has thousands of parks. The creation, maintenance, and use of public parks for major events ensures that everyone has free and fair access to outdoor venues in generally safe and healthy conditions.
10 – Police and Fire Services
Despite controversies regarding police behavior toward minorities, society depends on police forces to investigate violent crimes, arrest dangerous criminals, regulate the flow of traffic, and to protect citizens when they are danger.
Police officers are often called upon to perform many other duties, from welfare checks on aged, ill, and isolated individuals to rescuing stranded or abused animals, to searching for missing children. While the anger, pain, and fear minority communities feel and express is real and supported by historical evidence, society cannot exist without police forces.
Fire departments not only fight fires – they assist with community health care, intervene when hazardous materials are introduced to the environment, rescue people and animals, and perform other vital services.
These public service employees have saved countless millions of lives for over 2,000 years.
10. The Food and Drug Administration
There is no greater power that can be exerted over an individual than telling him or her what can be eaten or drank. This is exactly what the FDA does. In the name of public health and safety, the FDA was created in 1906. Since then, it has grown to encompass many different functions. It has the power to prohibit particular food and drugs from being sold or consumed. Once again, a power that should be left purely to market forces has been nationalized. This Department uses fear-mongering to justify its existence, but it serves no purpose other than to further control our lives.
Public Transportation & Security
In perhaps its most frivolous spending project, the government is involved in transportation in more than one facet. First of all, the government invests billions of dollars in projects like Amtrak, which is highly expensive and is therefore not at all able to compete with private carriers. Then there is the TSA, which invades our privacy and personal rights every time we choose to travel through an airport (something similar to the arrival to a designated checkpoint in a former Soviet state). Both are similar in that they represent an intrusion by the government into an area which should be exclusively left to the free market. Under the current model, government wastes our money and destroys our rights through its unnecessary entanglement.
Health Care
While Republicans have been decrying ObamaCare since the moment it was created, the healthcare system in the US has not been a truly free market in generations. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt prohibited wage increases, which led to workers demanding health insurance as an alternate form of compensation. Both Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965. They have both been thoroughly expanded in the time period since. As more Americans become insured (as they are mandated by the government to do so), prices increase and qualities decrease due to a larger pool and a broadening burden on doctors. Much like Social Security, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are heresy, even as the programs balloon out of control. Obamacare is socialism because even though there might be dozens of insurance companies, the product is designed and created in Washington D.C.
The Internal Revenue Service
Created in order to streamline collection of income taxes, the IRS is likely the most hated government entity in the US, and for good reason. No other government agency is able to thoroughly dismember the Bill of Rights in the way that the IRS does. The IRS demands that you report every personal detail, so that it may “fairly” decide how much you should pay in taxes. The tax system itself is the embodiment of class warfare, as wealthier individuals pay much higher rates. The IRS is powerful and pervasive; Americans as a whole spend millions of dollars and hours every year in an attempt to fill their taxes out correctly. Even the smallest discrepancy can be cause for an audit by the IRS, and if you are found to be hiding something from the government, you could be in jail for a long time.
Corporate Welfare
Supported ubiquitously on both sides of the aisle in Congress, while being vehemently opposed by almost every American citizen, corporate bailouts pick winners and losers in what should actually be a free market which punishes corporations that act badly. Worst of all, corporate bailouts are rarely labeled as such; they are often masked as programs designed to help the poor. As opposed to the incendiary, false designation of laissez-faire capitalism as “trickle-down economics,” this seems more apt to receive such a title. Government funnels billions of dollars into monstrous corporations, who are in turn are expected to turn over such gains to consumers. There are too many pro-big business government programs in existence to name them all, but it is safe to say that if a regulation is supposedly designed to target large corporations, such legislation will likely end up only applying to their smaller competitors, with many exceptions for the bigwigs themselves.
Government Schooling
Vladimir Lenin once said, “Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.” There has perhaps never been a more telling quote in regards to government entanglement in education. The US government has nearly monopolized schooling, as voucher programs have consistently been turned away in order to satisfy always-powerful unions. Schools have been regularly given more rigid national standards since the creation of the Department of Education through programs like No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Schools seem to continually move further away from the final goal of an adequate education, as they compete for federal funding through student success on endless standardized tests. The aforementioned unions make it almost impossible to fire ineffective teachers, preserving the status quo at any costs.
Farm Subsidies
In one of its most meddlesome market practices, the government provides farmers with extra government money if the state deems that those crops could not thrive in a market economy. This policy protects producers from competitors foreign and domestic, propping up corporate interests and passing the costs on to the American taxpayer. Subsidies also are a way in which government takes ownership over industry, allowing bureaucrats, rather than consumers, to make the decisions on which companies thrive in the marketplace.
Endless Wars
Said Randolph Bourne, “War is the health of the State. It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense.” While many modern-day conservatives seem to never want to cut a penny from the defense budget, it now takes up roughly $600 billion of the US Budget.
Though defense is perhaps the most important, or maybe the only thing that the US Government should do, it is impossible that there is not a more efficient way of using our resources. This growth has occurred in large part because of a post-World War II United States which intervenes far too often in conflicts which are not in our direct interest. Worse yet, these constant wars also help to create a society which too often allows violations of civil liberties and human rights, a hallmark of authoritarianism.
The Federal Reserve
Created in 1913, the Federal Reserve is the government’s ultimate institution that is “too big to fail.” It quietly steals dollar values from millions of Americans as inflation increases exponentially. In the meantime, it provides the government unlimited funds to enact other Socialist policies. Through its totalitarian influence, the government prohibits the use of any alternate currencies, acting quickly to squash such initiatives any time they may began to appear. Worse yet, the Federal Reserve acts without any type of check or balance and is given almost no scrutiny in its policy decisions, as it has evaded numerous audits in recent history, almost all of which were proposed by former Congressman Ron Paul.
Social Security
Social Security was begun in 1935 as a means of taking care of older generations. At the time, the minimum age set to receive full retirement benefits was 65, as the average life expectancy was only 61. However, as the topic has become more politicized and citizens have had more of their paychecks taken in the name of Social Security, it has become nearly impossible to raise the “retirement” age. Even as the average life expectancy has risen by nearly 20 years, the Social Security collection age has risen by only 2 years (for those born in 1960 or later). What has resulted is a program that forcibly takes from poorer, younger workers in order to give to older, wealthier retirees. Plans to partially privatize the system have been met with fierce hostility, but it appears that if the problem is not dealt with soon enough, Social Security will quickly become insolvent.
Should the US Become Socialist?
www.procon.org/headlines/american-socialism-top-2-pros-and-cons/
Pro 1
The US already has many successful and popular socialist policies.
A lot of everyday American policies are socialist: medicare, social security, the minimum wage, and child labor laws to name a few.
As Jack Schwartz, the late Newsday book editor and author explained, the Socialist Party platform of 1912 contained many policies Americans now wouldn’t think of as “socialist,” including: “An eight-hour workday at a decent wage, a public-works program for the jobless (realized later in the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration), safety regulations for workers in the mines and factories, a child-labor law, an old-age pension, unemployment and accident insurance, a graduated income tax, an inheritance tax, suffrage for women, a direct vote in national elections doing away with the electoral college, the creation of separate departments of health, education and labor, and a convention to revise the Constitution. The first of their political demands was absolute freedom of the press, speech and assembly.” [14]
If existing and proposed socialist policies are so heavily favored, they should be maintained.
Pro 2
The job of the US government is to enable and protect all of its citizens. More socialist policies can work with capitalist structures to undo the harm done by unfettered capitalism.
Capitalism has resulted in the top 1% of Americans holding more wealth (a combined net worth of $34.2 trillion, or 30.4% of all US wealth) than the bottom 50% of Americans ($2.1 trillion, or 1.9%). [22]
This disparity is not because billionaires work harder than those earning a minimum wage. Instead, rich Americans have more access and exposure to the stock market, and the Americans with the top 10% of wealth hold over 88% of all available equity in corporations and mutual fund shares (and the top 1% hold more than twice as much equity than the bottom 50% of Americans combined). And nationwide crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, only increase these disparities. [22]
Socialist policies, particularly a wealth tax, could redistribute wealth and aid Americans who have been penalized by a structurally inequitable system.
Those who support socialist policies believe the measures could “create a fairer, more generous system,” and “build upon… and improve capitalism.” Adding socialist policies isn’t an either/or debate against capitalism. Both systems can function together. [23]
Pro 3
The American public supports the implementation of more socialist policies.
In general, socialist policies are broadly supported by Americans: 69% support medicare-for-all. 63% support free public college tuition. 59% support raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. 85% support paid work leave for illness. 82% support paid maternity leave. 69% support paid paternity leave. 67% support paid leave to care for an ill family member. 74% support continued social security benefits without cuts. 66% support government-led environmental protections. And 64% support a wealth tax.
