There are those who delight in calling President Obama a “socialist” and denouncing anything he touches as “socialism”. Most have no clue what socialism is and only use the term to promote fear among the public. We call that “terrorism”.
Each nation has a political system and an economic system. Economics studies the production, distribution, and acquisition of goods and services. Politics refers to the ways in which governments are organized and the ways that people interact with their governments.
Capitalism is an economic system in which individuals and corporations own the means of production – factories, farms, and other businesses – and control the distribution of our goods and services. In a truly capitalist system, there is no government involvement of any kind. There are no public schools, libraries, police departments, roads, sidewalks, hospitals, or charities. There is no social security program, unemployment compensation, or public assistance system. The “market” controls the economy and all financial dealings.
Under communism, the people own all property – factories, farms, businesses, land, etc. – in common, in a classless society. A central authority – a committee, a bureaucracy, or a dictator – makes all management decisions. Communism is usually associated with Karl Marx and the Soviet Union. However, most of the indigenous cultures throughout the world practiced communism for thousands of years prior to the modern era. They just didn't have a name for it.
If you can picture capitalism as one extreme and communism as the other, then socialism is the wide range of options between the two. Assets can be privately owned or are held in common by the public, under the government. There is usually a blend of the two alternatives. Government, citizens, and business owners all have some control over the decisions.
The U.S. Constitution establishes our political system. There is no law requiring the U.S. to be a capitalist nation. In fact, it contains several socialist elements. Article I requires Congress to regulate commerce and to establish patent, trademark, copyright, and bankruptcy protections for business owners. It also prohibits states from interfering with interstate commerce.
There is no purely capitalist country. Even people who call themselves “capitalists” want some government involvement in their businesses. They don’t want limits on their business activities or their relations with employees, competitors, or customers. They do want the protections guaranteed by the Constitution. They want exemptions from many laws. They certainly want tax breaks and government bailouts. None of them really wants competition.
The public wants minimum wage, fair labor practices, environmental, health and safety, child labor, income security, and consumer protections. A responsible and responsive government tries to balance the needs and wants of the two groups. That’s why every person and every nation in the world sits at one point or another on that socialist range. Political activities and social culture determine a country’s place on the scale. It’s called a mixed economy. Most countries move around on that scale over the years.
Over the years, American public policy has established partial government funding for education, emergency services, and infrastructure. Now we’re debating whether to add health care to that list. Socialism is not a big scary monster that’s coming to get you. It’s an economic principle. And whatever your politics, there are some aspects of it that you want.
“If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind . . . someone who cares about the welfare of the people – their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights . . . then I am proud to say I am a liberal.”
John F. Kennedy
Comments
Europe, grand bastion of socialism, is also experiencing higher and higher unemployment with each passing year. Connection? Simple. The more money you tax out of people and businesses to pay for government-run enterprises, the less they have, and the more likely they are to fail economically or themselves even become wards of the growing government-run socialist dystopia that you describe. It doesn't really matter which particular 'ism' you subscribe to, when people are cleaned out, by whatever means, that leaves the government in the position of doling out the dollars as they see fit. Net change from the 1970's-1980's? "In a sluggish...economy...inflation, recession hits the land of the free..."-Iggy Pop
You're going to work until you can't, at which point you'll end up on the government dole, simple as that.
I don't know if you realized this but the reason jobs are leaving is actually not because of "socialism". There are many reasons why jobs are leaving for example; Moving jobs overseas to countries where they can pay there workers terrible wages, modernized economies where machines are taking place of people, reliance on people to do more work for the same pay etc etc.... The mechanization of of all aspects of the economy will mean that jobs will start to dry up. If i can build 1 machine to do the work of 30 people, im doing it, and people already are. We need a new system but I fear this one will have to fall before we realize this need.
Thank you for this article!!! I am sick and tired of everyone throwing these twisted versions of political terms around with whatever flavor of meaning that benefits their own purpose. I suspected that the first comment would be one of objection. The people making the most noise during these times are people who fear they are going to lose something personally. They are the first to object, cry out unfair or try to make everyone afraid that a big terrible monster is coming. This is a selfish act. They do not care for their fellow man. Their god is greed. The truth is that there has never been more big government control over our lives than in the last 8 years, when the government ripped into the Constitution and captured ALL of our personal information about our lives, by instilling fear that the big terrorism monster was going to get us. The silent majority spoke out at the last Presidential election. Get used to it!
Thank you for this interesting article. I am a democratic socialist. I see socialism as the creation of freedom on a mass scale. Today in America, those who are truly free are the top 5% who control 85% of the wealth. The rest of us, struggling along attempting to get by. Socialism means that things such as health care, safe housing, a clean environment and useful jobs become social rights. This will form a new basis for freedom where 95% of the population can develop to its potential(s). You cannot be free if you are sick. You cannot be free if you enslaved by debt. You cannot be free if you cannot find work. This, I think is socialism.
Those interested can drop me a line socialistzine(at)gmail or google the Socialist WebZine.
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