Proud to be a Socialist
The McCain campaign has been trying to smear Obama for being a "socialist" because he wants to use taxes to "spread the wealth around." Forgetting for a moment that the purpose of taxes is to spread the wealth around, I want to ask what’s wrong with being a socialist? I come from a long line of various stripes of socialists and I am proud to be one myself (I am a libertarian socialist). My friends and relatives who are or were socialists are or were fine human beings. They have worked in the public schools, struggled for labor rights, human rights, civil rights, organized public radio stations, food cooperatives and helped build pretty much anything else that includes the public good. Looking at the root of the word and the actions of my friends and elders I think it is fair to argue that a socialist is someone who cares about people more than about money. Using that definition I am proud to call myself a socialist.
I will let the reader define capitalism for him or herself.
Oh, and before someone starts a comment thread about all of the horrors done in the name of socialism (Cuba, USSR, etc.) let me just say that the genuine socialists I have known have struggled just as hard against the totalitarian Marxist-Leninist (i.e. Communist) regimes as they have against the injustices of the capitalist democracies. The thugs who often rise to the top of the Marxist-Leninist regimes deserve to be resisted as much as anyone else. I am proud to have among my family friends non-Marxist-Leninist socialists who were dissidents in Czechoslovakia or fought both the fascists and the Communists in Spain or, during the sixties, resisted the intrusion of Marxist-Leninist groups into the New Left while organizing against the Vietnam War and for civil rights.
“Forgetting for a moment that the purpose of taxes is to spread the wealth around…” Silly me- I thought the purpose of taxes was to pay for essential government services. We didn’t even have an income tax for the first 120 years of our nation’s history. But as you say, leaving that aside…
There’s nothing wrong with socialism or socialists- I have visited a number of socialist countries that were very pleasant places. Socialism is good for managing shortages- but it is lousy at growing the economy. France, for example, has much better unemployment programs than we do- but then, they need them because they’ve had double-digit unemployment for decades. Canada’s healthcare system treats more of it’s populace than ours- but there are more MRI machines in Boston than the entire nation of Canada. Any socialist have to be careful in caring for people that he doesn’t kill the goose that lays the golden aggs in the process.
Comment by Joel Monka — October 24, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
Collin: I find it a bit of a double standard that the use of the word “socialism” as a smear is only used when it suits the purpose. The recent action of government control of the banking industry is socialism in action. Yet when this point is brought up the people insisting on smearing their opponent as socialist, dismiss these points as irrelevant. And our nation’s strongest ally is a socialist government–Britain–not to mention the other socialist democracies in Europe. Are these pundits going to say that Britain is an evil country because of their socialism? I don’t think so. But these same pundits do call evil those countries that ignore or abuse the welfare of their citizens. Hmm… what does that say about this nation that resist attempts to ensure its citizens have access to healthcare?
Comment by Fred — October 25, 2008 @ 11:19 am