Socialism Debunked

   I care about your personal welfare. I want to ensure that you receive medical attention when you need it, food on your table when you're hungry and a paycheck in your wallet that you earned working in a secure job.

   I am socialism. The media speaks about socialism as if it was the transvestite uncle which is subjected to a wide range of swift judgement. The hypersensitivity to this subject compelled us to explore this patriotic taboo.  Have you ever wondered, especially with the recent favor of the individual mandate on Obama Care, why any government sanctioned project or reform gets negatively labeled as SOCIALIST? With a couple days of library camping we present to you the breakdown of what socialism is...

   Socialism has two broad definitions:

1) Collectively owned or state regulated industry

      i.e: All employees of a business receive democratic say in how the company is ran without any outside consumer investors or owners. Basically a business that is worker owned and ran.

2)  Socialized institutions provides security and basic needs to all of its people

     Western socialism, also is harbored within the second definition, extends this idea of ending poverty and creating social equality.

 i.e Healthcare, education, and standards of living are affordable to every citizen.

Socialism dates as far back as three centuries and has an incredible amount of philosophical and progressive influence that has evolved through societal struggle, revolution, and inevitably reformation.

    During the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century there was a defined split in socialist ideas.

1) Marxist socialism: "The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of all lands, unite!"-Karl Marx 1848 This is around the time where Marx went down the rabbit hole of Communistic ideas and reform.

2) Democratic socialism: "We will gradual personify our ideas via democratic means (election/representation) free of revolution." (Look up the Fabian Society: George Bernard Shaw, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, H.G. Wells, and Graham Wallace are just some of the mentionable contributors).

    To emulate the current models of socialism that pertain to the United States lets examine the democratic socialist model and the pros and cons of its essential ideas.

     Some of conflicting points of socialism include the concept of  nationalization (state/government owned industry) which was formulated in fear of privatized industrial monopolies. Although this concept seems unharmed by industries such as water, electricity, gas, and telephone which all citizens require therefore, government owned and regulated prices that provide affordable supply to meet the demand and service the people seems fair.  It seemed heavily disputed with industries that thrive on capitalistic competition: telecom, oil, automobile, etc. However, most socialist no longer adhere to total total nationalization and agree that capitalistic enterprises: agriculture, retails, etc. can function in a competitive market efficiently without intervention. Disclaimer: can you think of a current situation where extreme governmental deregulation of industry has negatively influenced a majority of U.S citizens?????  Norman Thomas (western democratic socialist) stated,  American socialists nowadays generally accept, as they should, a mixed economy, controlled by the overall concept that production should be for the good of all. For the state, under any system, to try to own and operate any thing would deprive us of some of the important values of private initiative and responsibility.

  The second large issue with bureaucratic centralization by the state/government are these institutions are difficult to manage concisely. Questions arise such as: who says who will manage? Who says who will lead, follow, or step in if the appointed management is poor? Also, it appears that competition drives innovation when you have centralized an industry it raises the question of how will I motivate my workers and satisfy executive personnel?

  The United States undoubtedly has a combination of  defined social institutions as well as capitalistic industry. Arguably our economy and our people function somewhere within a fine balance between the two. Socialism has had major achievements over the span of its existence such as: welfare-state and National Health Services (British universal healthcare) etc. The U.S has catch-net programs including: unemployment, welfare, Medicare, Medicad,  Affordable Healthcare Act (2012), food assistance programs etc. that have socialistic concepts. The issue appears to be the magnetic pull of a media monopoly which ultimately conveys the attitudes on topics such as socialism (note: possible blog on media monopoly and sociology coming soon).  The lesson learned from socialism, other than the reality of its existence in our country, is to observe opinions objectively and the reasons behind them. 

Have a great morning,

 Brooke & Terrance
    

References

Ebenstein, A., Ebenstein, W., Fogelman, E. (1994). Today's Isms. New Jersey:
     Prentice-Hall  Inc. 

Toler, P. (2011). The Everything guide to Understanding Socialism. Massachusetts: 
      Adams Media.