The problem with the term Socialism is that too few people understand that it’s entirely an economic concept. Basically you can look at economic issues on a continuum from Communism on the far left and Pure Capitalism on the far right. In Communism, everything would be owned by the government and distributed to the people, if you think about hippies in the 60s, a lot of people called them Communists/Pinkos/etc., and to be fair, the did often live in communes. Everything is shared, nothing is owned. Socialism is to the right of this, wherein with pure socialism at it’s center, the government is more about creating distribution according to need in order to strengthen society.
In capitalism, everything is privately owned in it’s most pure form. Socialism kind of sits in the middle, actually a bit left of the middle. What most European countries have, and what many in America strive for is a sort of Social Democracy. This would essentially be a Capitalist nation where some things were owned by the government and some redistribution took place to meet the needs of a healthy society.
In other words, if we let Capitalism run unfettered, the theory is that it will create classes of people, the haves and the have nots, and that is all well and good if the have nots have “enough” to get by. But Socialism’s main critique of pure capitalism is that greed and power will converge and basically create sort of a Social Darwinism…economic survival of the fittest, wherein the have nots basically can not get by, and live a life of economic indentured servitude.
In most Democratized countries, there is some form of Social Democracy…that is right of Socialism and left of pure Capitalism. Under the Republicans we have drifted further and further to the right and closer to Social Darwinism/Pure Capitalism by concentrating more and more of the wealth in the hands of the haves, and taken away more and more of the social safety net for the have nots.
What people don’t, in my opinion understand, is that Social Democracies flourish throughout the world, and these countries that adopt these policies (which are essentially what Obama advoacates for) still have capitalism, the haves still get very wealthy, no one takes away anyone’s motivation to work hard to get ahead…OK, maybe you die worth $20 billion instead of $50 billion, boo fucking hoo. People also don’t understand that when FDR took office, we didn’t have things to keep people from falling through the cracks, and he created a social safety net, so that if people fell too ill or became too old to work, they had some income security. Another thing people don’t understand is that some things just need to be socialized (run, controlled, funded by the government). Schools, the post office, libraries, and huge public works projects like the interestate system and other infrastructure…these are things that capitalism will never get done, because they are not profitable, and the whole objective of capitalism is profit. In things that serve the common interest or the overall health of the people in our society, we have no problem “socializing” them, but that has been slowly eroded over the years by those who want to move further and further towards a completely free market.
But the problem is, there is another continuum about how much control government exercizes over your day to day life…that continuum runs from authoritarianism on the far right (do what the government says) to anarachism on the far left (do whatever the hell you want). And the problem is, many of the purely socialist economies, by virtue of the fact that all is government controlled, come along with purely authoritarian dictatorships, as the government seeks to not only control finance, but thought and free expression.
So, because Socialism in it’s furthermost left point as used under societies that we have observed has gone hand in hand with authoritarianism, and people hear the word “Socialism” it conjures up images of being less free. It can then be used as a wedge, you invoke the spectre of the red menace and tell people that the government is going to take all your money and tell you how it’s going to be spent.
But essentially, Obama’s tax plan is basically to roll back to what Clinton had…and no one thinks we were a socialist/communist nation under Clinton, not seriously anyway. It’s about the connotation and not the actuality.
In my mind, and I think this is true of the majority of Americans, we should, as Americans be afforded certain inalienable rights…not just the rights to free expression and speech, religion, gun ownership, etc. But also economic rights…we should all be able to afford an education through college (Obama’s plan strengthens public school funding and provides tax credits for those willing to volunteer 100 hours of community service per year for college). We should be able to maintain our health (Obama’s plan makes sure we will all have access to affordable health care ON THE PRIVATE MARKET). We should all be able to have our financial needs met if we become too old or ill to work (Obama’s plan shores up Social Security and Medicare). These things aren’t rocket science, but we’ve constantly seen cuts to these programs, millions falling into the ranks of the uninsured, people falling through the cracks.
The image that John McCain has painted of Obama is one of a person who will give handouts to any lazy person who wants them at the expense of all us hardworking Americans. Essentially though, unless you’re making a quarter million dollars a year, your taxes won’t go up. After that they will go up modestly, but it will be enough to provide the things that strengthen our society. And the goal is not to give them out to the lazy, but to help out those who are every bit as hardworking as the rest of us, but who due to circumstances outside their control, can’t quite lift themselves up. It’s about hands up, not hands out. That’s Social Democracy…a Democratic system which looks out for the well being of its citizenry, not socialism which is collectivism that provides all with equal output regardless of input.
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