The White House?). In their view major social reforms will happen willy-nilly, with a passive populace coming to support successful programs only after they have been legislated by politicians and implemented by bureaucrats. If every public library closed tomorrow, wouldnt thousands of cheaper and better private-run or charitably run institutions spring up to replace them? By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. When that is the case, societies whose members hold democratic values treat those matters as political meaning the full polity, or what our Greek philosophical forebears called the polis and afford the full demos Greek for the people a say in deciding upon them. Change). If so, then ownership of what? In their incessant propaganda war to move the United States leftwards, leftists often claim that this country already is partly socialist. Roads are collectively owned infrastructure, and created under the capitalist mode of production. This is also relatively true for fire departments. And these claims continue to this day. Since the Clinton Administration, the federal government has also funded the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring grant program. Socialism means that the means of production are owned by the workers. Thats the theory, anyhow. Use a private highway and you pay a small electronically collected fee, just as most public tolls are collected now. Why Are So Many Young People Dying Suddenly? The special tax district gave the corporation and theme park its own set of privileges, including autonomy in zoning, public functions and its own police and fire department, according to The Guardian. (Lincolns Homestead Act and Land Grant Act were products of this vision.) If roads are socialist, then they do a great job enabling Capitalism/Free Enterprise to function. Is Bernie Sanders a socialist? To avoid national bankruptcy and the mass destitution of the elderly and middle classes that will inevitably follow, these corrupt schemes must be phased out, beginning as soon as possible. All public education controlled at the county and state levels. You simply take what you need in a socialist society, so if you need to get from A to B, you only need to board the vehicle. Republic, Democracy, and Monarchy are all forms of government. Something else? Preserving business confidence is a major constraint on the formation of policy, and is one of the main reasons why government action is so often favorable to capitalist interests. In came a large, older fellow who took one look at my cover, Return to Capitalism, and with a finger pointed at me, said, "We already live in a capitalistic country. A local news article about North Dakotas Red River Valley Democratic Socialists of America recently claimed that roads and bridges, the military, police and fire departments, public education and transportation, libraries, parks, Medicare all have socialist roots. Again, only partially true. We can abbreviate that by saying we do and decide some things individually and some things collaboratively, or socially, with the size or scope of the collaborative group in the latter case varying according to the activity. We wouldnt have to change the purpose of any existing programs, nor would we have to reform the administrative structures of government agencies. Economic power is political power, and under capitalism the owners of capital will always have the capacity to undermine popular democracy no matter whos in Congress or the White House. Today, only 15 of America's largest police departments have a strict residency requirement for police officers, and a majority of cops live outside the cities they serve. Why do we need federally run parks? Only a united public effort can adequately defend a whole nation or territory from invasion or defeat a dangerous enemy abroad. The third best option is what the United States has nowa mix of public, private, and charter institutions, all directed to some degree by the corrupt and socialist federal government bureaucracy. Yellowstone: The Hidden Propaganda in Television and Movies, How to Cultivate a Marriage That Will Help Your Child Succeed. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Are Libraries Socialist? Roads dont producewealth quite so much as they enableproductivity and consumption. Only a united public effort can adequately defend a whole nation or territory from invasion or defeat a dangerous enemy abroad. The Obama administration has been very clear about keeping the status quo when it comes to taxpayer-funded fire departments. Its like saying rocks are big., Let us begin to disaggregate, then, by starting at the front end of the production process with inputs. Socialist Programs like Medicaid, welfare, social security, can and do exist in capitalist countries. Socialism means that the means of production are owned by the workers. Roads have become the backbone of commerce, and have enabled profits to soar to unprecedented heights. For it is possible, as we shall see, to be more socialist on one or two dimensions while being more individualist along the other dimension or dimensions and, of course, vice versa. People today will still argue that a Tomato is indeed a vegetable and not a fruit. Some seem thrown in for no good reason at all (Amber Alerts? "No Bernie, the Police and Fire Departments Are Not Socialism"; A Primer on Socialism VS. A Free Society The Epoch Times "In their incessant propaganda war to move the United States leftwards, leftists often claim that this country already is partly socialist. Its been shown time and again that many people who say they love socialism cannot accurately describe its basic tenets if their life depended on it. Here is where continued popular mobilization outside (and, if necessary, against) formal political structures becomes absolutely crucial. Socialism, no matter what you learned in High School, is a labor inspired revolution aimed at defeating the class barriers and wealth inequality created by capitalism. Thats a library, a public school, food stamps, or any form of universal basic income. These are often termed transfer payments. The government takes money from individuals and corporations and gives it those it wants to supportor get votes from. (Exceptions were made when rich senators offered to ponyup denarii on projects so theyd have their names attached to roads.). What level of economic control is acceptable to a given society? Zero government control. Ancient rome had highways, public bathhouses and aqueducts but this doesn't mean they invented socialism. Not all government action is socialist just because you happen to enjoy or benefit from it. Which seems more socialist in such case Lincolns, Reagans and Sanderss labor republican capitalism, which actually produces outputs from inputs, or Mr. Trumps state-funded oligarchical feudalism, which simply brands already existing entities that earn money by luring working people into gambling casinos and overpriced low-quality hotel accommodations? . What determines whether we choose to pursue an activity more individually or more socially? But the sheer volume of spending tells us little about the political valence of government action. Today, We Should Do the Same for the Global South. In todays United States, there are a plethora of government agencies handing out all sorts of benefits to almost anyone who asks. Who if anyone should be paid for their use? The Constitution is clear. If the forces responsible for killing Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd exemplify socialism in action, then no person who wants freedom and justice should be a socialist. According to a widely noted 2014 study by two political scientists, the political dominance of the wealthy is now so pronounced that average citizens exercise near zero influence over government policymaking. And still others involve the vast apparatus of coercion and force (police departments, the FBI, the CIA, the military, courts, prisons, and jails). There is no need to explore this issue any further.. No one who tells you otherwise has investigated the matter, let alone thought about it. So long as the fundamental structures of the economy remain unchanged, state action will disproportionately benefit capitalist interests at the expense of everything else. Russia was known as the United Soviet Socialist Republic and all such regimes referred to themselves as socialist, but, yes, communism is an. Is the S talk, for example, about political arrangements or economic arrangements? Capitalist production is just production that produces further inputs for production, which is why it is not really a contrast term to socialism, and is how things like state capitalism are possible but more of this presently. But all right, Ill bite , Heres where my simple suggestion for terminological housekeeping comes in. It can all be a bit daunting. Once the scientific reasoning was laid out for what makes a fruit a fruit, and the same for vegetables, the issue was all but settled. Whats gained by calling public (public, not private) policy socialist or otherwise, if we already know what it is, what it does, and that we like it? No government education loans. Well have you ever heard of this little thing called the fire department? The theory is that under this system, labor cannot be exploited. Its started again The S word socialism has returned to brisk circulation. But we shouldnt stop there. The temptation to loot that pot of gold is overwhelming. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images, Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. But lets be honest: thats probably not the case. No. Some combination of such things? Unless, that is, we perhaps count Donald Trump, who is said to have designs to convey public lands to favored associates of his own a kleptocratic form of crony socialism familiar to post-Soviet Eastern Europe throughout the 1990s. Why? And things could hardly be otherwise, for all productive economic activity proceeds on the basis of rules, and rules are the province of collective decision-making politics., Second, note that Bernie Sanders, whose frontrunner status in seeking the US Presidency is what has occasioned the socialist renewal, does not call himself a socialist or even a democratic socialist. He calls himself a Democratic Socialist. And as the capital letters indicate, thats not a generic predicate term, its a proper name as different in grammatical form from mere socialist as Robert Barone is from robber baron.. The comment, which was liked more than 2,500 times, demonstrates either an appalling ignorance or a blatant disdain for truth and accuracy. In a truly socialist state, there would be no fares for public transportation. By simply looking at the size of government in terms of overall spending, many argue that the US is becoming increasingly socialist whether it wants to or not. If we were purely capitalistic, each person would have to hire their own firemen.". For one thing, the rich and powerful invest heavily in political activity to promote their interests and block progressive reforms. High schools are hardly about to teach advanced economics unless you took an AP course. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Australia, pretty much all of Western Europe, etc. When we use color words, for example, we know we are speaking of visible surfaces. Why do those who now make up our new largest demographic millennials, who bumped out the boomers last year not fear it? No taxpayer-funded charter schools. Mixing the profit motive of the private sector with the low accountability levels of the public sector is a recipe for corruption and co-option by radicals. Michael McAuliff of the Huffington Post pointed out that the federal government spends huge amounts of money to support all those professions. This is true, yet the federal government does things frequently that many consider to be outside of the proper scope of the federal powers. Its possible the Facebook comment was written by some poor unpaid intern who has not yet taken a political theory class. For the most part, yes. If we start now, there will be minimal pain as we will see a rebirth of the efficient and personal friendly societies and private insurance and savings schemes that used to fulfill these roles. The military is the most socialist institution we have. The Asbury Revival, Emotionalism, and Group Psychology, Socialism is Not Public Roads and 911 Service, American Girl and the Historical Nostalgia Trap, Attentiveness as Service: The Virtue of Noticing, Not Your Schools Reading List 8: Adventures, Spies, and More for Young Boys. Great job enabling Capitalism/Free Enterprise to function Community Oriented Policing Services ( COPS ) hiring grant program all! 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