And Our Choice Isn’t Between “Capitalism” and “Socialism.”
One of the claims I hear often from people who are trying to justify their support of Republican politicians is that “Democrats are Marxists / communists / socialists.”
And it’s further implied that somehow, putting Democrats in power is going to seriously damage the country.
Of course, this claim is repeated many times a day, virtually every day, by the media figures propping up and promoting the Republican Party. And it doesn’t matter in the slightest that America prospered under Bill Clinton, pulled slowly but surely out of the Great Recession under Barack Obama, or has done just fine under Joe Biden, conquering COVID, conquering post-COVID inflation, and adding 15 million new jobs.
The claim, of course, isn’t even remotely true.
As I sometimes point out to people who push this false narrative, the word “communism” has a specific meaning. It doesn’t simply mean “some policies that I personally don’t like.”
Communism requires abolishing all private ownership of business, and making it so that every business in the country is owned by the government.
It also requires all business decisions, including how many products, and which products, are produced, to be decided by government committees.
And, it calls for a classless society, in which goods aren’t sold for profit — instead, they are distributed according to people needing them.
Please show me one Democratic politician of any stature, anywhere in the United states, and any level, local, state, or federal, who is advocating for such a thing. You can’t. They simply don’t exist.
Likewise, Marxism calls for a violent revolution by the working class of a country, resulting in communism.
To claim that Democrats are “Marxists” and “communists” would literally be laughable if this nonsense wasn’t being used to persuade real people that Democratic leadership isn’t even a viable option.
The great irony, of course, is that it was a near-absolute domination of American political leadership by Democrats from 1933 to 1981 that brought America and Americans the greatest, most prosperous era in our history — the era that really defined and normalized the American Dream as something for all of us.
And it’s Republican-sponsored “trickle-down economics” that are mass-impoverishing Americans by the tens of millions.
Ironically, Republican politicians and media figures routinely use fear of economic deprivation to maneuver middle class and working class Americans straight into… economic deprivation.
At their hand.
Are Democrats “Socialists?”
The term “socialism” is so vague that it is sometimes used to mean “in favor of having a strong social safety net.”
In this sense, Social Security and Medicare are “socialism” — which makes pretty much all of us “socialists.”
More typically, it involves insisting that the main parts of the economy are owned by government or worker cooperatives. It may involve centralized planning of the economy, instead of allowing market forces to shape supply and demand.
In such senses, Democrats are notsocialists. In fact, the only major American politician I can think of who’s ever even claimed the label of “socialist” is Bernie Sanders (“I am a democratic socialist.”) Sanders has for decades described himself as “an independent caucusing with the Democratic Party,” and only broke from that to run for President.
The Democratic politician usually considered to be closest to Bernie Sanders is Elizabeth Warren, who has said, “I am a capitalist to my bones.”
If even the “radical” Elizabeth Warren describes herself in such terms, then clearly, the Democratic Party is not“socialist.”
Republican politicians and media figures only use the term because it’s a good scare word to frighten voters into voting for them.
Democratic President Harry Truman put it well way back in 1952:
“Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.
Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan ‘Down With Socialism’ on the banner of his ‘great crusade,’ that is really not what he means at all.
What he really means is ‘Down with Progress — down with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal,’ and ‘down with Harry Truman’s fair Deal.’ That’s all he means.”
Our Choice Is NOT Between “Capitalism” and “Socialism.”
Our choice today is NOT between “capitalism” and “socialism.”
It’s between the brand of capitalism that Democrats used from 1933 to 1981 to bring us from the Great Depression into the full glory of the American Dream — what I call “American Dream Capitalism” — and the brand of capitalism that Republicans have imposed on the country since Reagan swept to power in 1980.
The latter is typically called “trickle-down economics.” Sometimes I refer to it as “Vampire Capitalism,” because it’s designed to suck the life blood out of more than 90% of Americans.
In my article on understanding American politics, I’ve gone into more detail on how Republican economics now costs the typical family at least $2,000 every single month. But for full details, those are in the course that I wrote.
So those are our choices.
American Dream Capitalism with the Democrats, or blood-sucking Vampire Capitalism with the Republicans.
If all of us fully understood those choices, today’s Republicans wouldn’t win a single race in any Congressional district anywhere in the country.
We would have a Democratic President, 100 Democratic Senators, and 435 Democratic Representatives.
Note that I’m not advocating for some kind of one-party system here. We needa healthy two-party system. I don’t think it’s healthy for either party to operate without some accountability. And right now, we don’t have a healthy two-party system.
I am simply saying that since Republican economics costs 90% of Americans in the neighborhood of $2,000 a month, if we all understood what we’re getting, they wouldn’t win a single seat… until they abandoned their economic policies and actually started serving the People.