Socialism? Really?

“Here in the United States, we are alarmed at new calls to adopt socialism in our country . . .“

This is what the Orange Menace said in his State of the Union speech way back in January (as he was ignoring the virus that would kill hundreds of thousands of us). It sounds scary to a lot of people, this idea of our country adopting socialism.  It sounds scary, that is, until you think about it, and thinking is high on the list of things that our President does not do.

So, let’s think about it.

Socialism as an “ism” is generally thought of as government owning the means of production.  I’m pretty far left. I read and listen to a lot of the left leaning thinkers and I have yet to run across any serious ones who propose that our government do anything close to ownership of the means of production.  More regulation? Yes. Provide enhanced government benefits? Of course. But, ownership? Not really. That’s a boogie man. When serious people talk about socialistic policies, what they really mean are ways for all of us to contribute to the good of the many, not just for ourselves. There are socialistic institutions that permeate the way we live now, and we love them.

For example, in the world that Trumpian fear mongering fantasizes, I guess that there would be no Social Security.  What, after all is that if not all of us joining together to contribute to the general welfare. We all pay into a fund that, for a lot of us (the lucky ones) is not returned in kind.  It is intended for those of us who haven’t been so lucky. After all, the thing is called “Social” Security, for God’s sake.  Not very capitalistic.

How about schools? Would these anti-socialists like to do away with public schools? Again, a process where we all pay into a fund to make sure that all kids get an education, not just our kids. Now, the Betsy DeVoses of the world would like to do away with that system, but if anyone agrees with Betsy Devos, they apparently must not have gone to school in the first place.

Police Departments? Will the anti-socialists do away with public funding for those protections? Hardly.  Look at their reaction to the misleading phrase, “Defund the Police.” That movement is, of course, not asking for all money to be taken away from the cops, just re-directed so that cops can do the real police work that they are trained to do.  But, what the anti-socialists ironically fail to comprehend is that the real “de-funding” of the police would occur if we turned away from the “socialistic” policies that they now decry.

Fire Departments?  Do the anti-socialists want private fire protection? I suppose that these people would prefer a system where the firefighters would let your house burn down because your monthly fire protection payment was late. 

This blog would run way too long if I got started on how we should be providing health care. People die because they can’t afford a doctor?  C’mon, man. Medicare and Medicaid? They want those programs eliminated?

No, if they thought about it, the Trumpers wouldn’t really be so afraid of additional socialistic policies. They wouldn’t even want to do away with the ones we now have. And if they really thought about it, what they are asking for is much, much worse.  What they are asking for by supporting the Monster-in-Chief is not socialism, it’s despotism.

They will be voting for the animal who has said, “I alone can fix it” and “when somebody’s President of the United States the authority is total.” They will be voting for the maniac who thinks he should be immune from criminal investigation, let alone prosecution; who thinks he can ignore Congress and spend money any way he wants to, e.g., build his wall with money not appropriated for it.

Now, if you want scary – that’s scary.