What is socialism? So many pundits on TV, particularly Fox think that they understand socialism. They irresponsibly spew their ideas of what socialism is, and unfortunately their viewers blindly follow along.
The basic idea of socialism is a government democratically elected, that represents its people, but with no economic competition. The bottom line in socialism is the well-being of everyone, not just those who can afford being well. In socialism (on paper) there is one economic class, everyone is equal and everyone has an equal voice. The government protects its people from exploitation and everyone gets the same resources, like schools, everyone has access to health care, and nobody has to worry about putting food on the table.
Capitalism has one major benefit in my opinion and that is the unfettered competition pushes people to do better and achieve more. I can see how capitalism fuels the race to come up with new and improved medical advancements and fuel efficient cars and such.
However capitalism leads to extreme exploitation of people because the bottom line in capitalism is monetary profit. All decisions are made based on whether or not said decision will make a buck even at the expense of their neighbor. For example, although medical advances are needed and vital, the price we pay for say some prescription medicine is upwards of hundreds of dollars a month, and cat scans and MRI’s cost over a thousand dollars for each time they are operated! Why? Because the insurance companies, and hospitals are more concerned with making profit than making people healthy. Another price we pay for capitalism is the demise of small local business. There was a bookstore store that was in business for decades in North Hollywood called Dutton’s Books. In 2004 they went out of business because they could no longer compete with the Barnes & Nobles, Amazons, and Borders of the world. Another example is all the small farmers that went out of business because it’s cheaper to import tomatoes, or asparagus because of NAFTA. I could go on and on.
I prefer socialism because a socialist government takes care of the vast majority of the people. I say vast majority because obviously the extremely rich people (5% of the US population) would be better off in a capitalist society.
We need a government that has our backs. We need a government that cares just as much as the homeless bum down the street from me, the single mom, and the small business owner as it does about its next campaign contributor.
We have a president in the White House now that agrees that his next campaign contributor is just as important if not less important than the Hurricane Katrina victim still living FEMA trailer. We have a majority in Congress lead by Nancy Pelosi who also would rather spend billions of dollars fixing the health care system so that everyone in the country has equal access to health care instead of having spent it in a bogus war in Iraq. I praise representatives Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Bob Filner, the entire Progressive Caucus in the House, but I hope that they can just take advantage of their majority and if needed, ram through needed reforms that would benefit the unconnected and average person. President Obama’s heart is in the right place, but the Republican pundits are distracting the public and the media from the important issues.
We had eight years of extreme capitalism and we ended up with a totally unnecessary war, a recession almost as bad as the great depression and a ridiculously high number of people without healthcare.
When we have leaders who are really taking care of us, instead of protesting them and calling them “socialist” in order to bring back all the Cold War era fear, we should give them a chance. The Democrats gave Bush a chance when they authorized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when they passed the Supplemental bills funding the wars and when they passed the “No Child Left Behind.” But now, the Republicans rejected President Obama’s economic recovery act and now they are fighting health care reforms tooth and nail. Their behavior is irresponsible and dangerous. We must not let them control the debate and win the hearts and minds of most Americans.
Socialism hinges on one major factor: that the government officials themselves are not corrupt. One thing I realized is that evil cannot be eradicated. We can fight the war on terror and the war on drugs for the next 10,000 years and we still wouldn’t win. Therefore no government is perfect. In capitalism, greed and selfishness can be proudly and openly displayed by our leaders. I guess that’s why all those tea party Fox addicts are staunch capitalist. They don’t care about anyone but themselves and it’s refreshing to have leaders who represent their selfish ideals. I am so happy that we have some progressive Democrats in positions of power because at least for these two years, they can pass legislation that helps the majority of the people of this country, folks we have neglected far too long.
We live in a capitalist country and that will never change. But we have some leaders who believe in the philosophy and ideals of socialism in that they believe that all people regardless of race or class deserve an equal chance at a happy and healthy life. Why can’t we all be open minded and give them a chance?
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