Weekly Opinion Editorial
DEMOCRATS ADVOCATE
SOCIALISM!
by Steve Fair
At the State of the Union
address, President Trump declared, "Tonight, we renew our resolve that
America will never be a socialist country.”
CNN’s instant poll said 76% of Americans approved of that statement. "Here,
in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our
country," the president said. "America was founded on liberty and
independence - not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born
free, and we will stay free."
Senator Bernie Sanders, (I-VT), an avowed socialist, frowned at the
president’s remarks, but most Democrat members did stand after Trump’s
statement.
Socialism is an economic
system where the ways of making a living (factories, offices, etc.) are owned
by society as a whole, instead of private owners. Socialists believe that production and
distribution of goods should be controlled by the government rather than
private enterprise. There are many
varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of
them. To be fair, Bernie Sanders and
other socialists in Congress have never called for government takeover of
private business. Their socialist model
is more like Europe’s, where social safety nets (health care, housing, food
stamps) are paid for by higher tax rates.
The U.S. has moved closer to the European model in recent years,
Socialism rewards mediocrity
while capitalism rewards those who are productive. Capitalism is freedom,
socialism is economic slavery. Capitalism
promotes a free market- socialism works to control the market. President
Reagan said, "Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the
marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized
government planning process."
Few schools teach the
difference between the economic systems, so many young people gravitate to
socialism since it seems fairer to everyone.
Recent polls show more than 40% of those under 30 years of age flavorfully
view socialism. But they should be careful what they wish for. Sir Winston Churchill said, "The inherent vice of capitalism is the
unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal
sharing of miseries." America
has moved closer and closer to the European model in recent years, but ultimately
every socialist system fails. A classic
example is Venezuela, a purely socialist country, in both governmental and
economic crisis.
John Galbraith, a liberal
economist and an advocate of socialism, said in 1970 that Democrats should use
the term socialism because it described what was needed in America. But after receiving negative feedback, the Ds
dropped in tag in subsequent years. With
the recent election of two members of Congress who are openly socialist,
perhaps that is changing.
Based
on what President Trump said in the State of the Union, it is clear he plans to
hang the socialist label on the Democrats in 2020. Democrats deserve the tag since their
political philosophy has moved to more government intervention and more
taxes. Trump’s strategy is sound, since the
vast majority of Americans do not agree with socialism. 
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