Socialism doesn’t mean taking wealth from those who work hard and giving it to those who don’t. You’re thinking of capitalism.
from the Occupy movement.
As a university undergraduate, I began to wonder why America, unlike other industrialized Western nations, never had a socialist party that won presidential elections.
I did learn that Scandinavian countries as well as England, Australia and New Zealand has had socialist parties which ran those countries. It’s been said that people in Denmark are the happiest in the world. The explanation is simple.
They have a $20 minimum wage, a 33 hour work week, free child-care, free health care and free university education.
The next question is “why doesn’t the U.S. do what the Danes do?”
The most common answer is that Sweden, Finland and Denmark are small homogeneous countries, and America with its diversity cannot replicate the Scandinavian experience.
One might ask why this discussion is relevant. Since the United States is the most successful, powerful country in the world and has a booming economy, isn’t this all moot? It might be if it weren’t for the following.
“The American people must make a fundamental decision. Do we continue the 40-year decline of our middle class and the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, or do we fight for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health for all?”
These are the words of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont who calls himself a “democratic socialist.”
The insertion of the word “democratic” is key because it invalidates the argument made by conservatives that socialism gave us Russia, Red China, Cuba and Nicaragua which are despotic.
Democratic socialists believe that you can have governmental practices such as free elections alongside a social welfare program in the economic sphere. There are other reasons why it can be argued that we need to rethink our attitudes.
Sen. Sanders has pointed out that one in four corporations pay no income tax. The Government Accountability Office goes even further pointing out that two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no taxes in 2005.
Finally, Fact Tank states that 52 percent of Americans think that taxes on corporations and large businesses should be raised.
We live in a country where tax laws are written to favor the rich and shameless.
We live in a country where millionaires like the Kennedys, the Bushes and the Trumps find it easy to get the nomination of their party. We live in a land where money can buy the best lawyers and accountants who can make the system work for them.
Thinking about the unfairness of our tax policy, one is reminded of Warren Buffett’s famous statement that he is in the same tax bracket as his secretary. I also recall that many years ago my accountant told me if I owned a jet, he could get me a refund.
Americans are not ideological. Maybe this explains the failure of socialism in this country. We experienced democratization during the Jacksonian era; we saw the rise of labor unions in the mid to late 1800s; we flirted with socialism during the populist days of the 1880s, but it never took hold.
Collectivism never captured our imagination.
Maybe if we read Karl Marx and understood him, we would be more open-minded. In the coming weeks, I hope to discuss famous American socialists like Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas and Michael Harrington.
I will then share the current thinking of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren.
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
