We’re all Socialists

We are all Socialists

Get over it.

Today’s GOP attack word is “Socialism.” It is not a new one, but one that has been used by conservatives to attack those government programs they do not like that actually help everyday working people. Our own Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, claims Gov. Evers’s proposed state budget is “socialist.”

To the uninformed, “Socialism” is the same as the dreaded ideology “Communism” that once held sway in the former Soviet Union and still is the governing system in Cuba and, to a lesser degree in China. 

“Communism” obliterated capitalism as the organizing principle of government. In a communist society, everyone works for the good of the state which, in turn, is supposed to supply everything one needs to survive. There is no room in these systems for individual growth or achievement or the accumulation of wealth.

“Democratic socialists” are much different than “communists” or “national socialists,” formerly known as “Nazis.” Democratic socialists believe that we need to work for the common good while allowing for individual achievement and the accumulation of wealth. We band together, pay taxes and do those things for each other that require a common approach. The major difference is that we believe those who earn more or accumulate or inherit wealth should pay their fair share towards the common good. 

Like it or not we in America are all “socialists” to one degree or another. As I pointed out in a column three years ago, there are many government programs that are inherently socialistic.

At the top of the list is tax funding for the Pentagon. Every soldier, sailor, airman, bomb, bullet, fighter jet and battle cruiser used by our military is paid for by tax dollars authorized by our elected representatives.

Big sports programs are played in large stadiums or arenas paid for, at least in part, by taxes. The National Football League has a huge government subsidy, as a nonprofit organization it pays no income taxes.

Social Security is a classic example of “Democratic Socialism.” Funded completely by payroll taxes, it pays a public and personal benefit that keeps millions of seniors, including many Republicans, out of poverty.

Medicare is another classic “socialist” program upon which millions depend for their healthcare. Funded completely by tax dollars, it is truly a single-payer healthcare system that actually works. 

Corporate bailouts, subsidies and tax credits are “socialist” programs at their finest. Not having to shoulder the same tax burdens as working families is supposed to help all of us through job creation and other trickle-down economic theories. It does not work out that way most of the time, but it makes for popular GOP politics as long as you do not call it “socialistic.”

Where would we all be without those “socialist” created local, state and federal roads and highways? We could not get to work or ship the products we make or grow to market without them. All are paid for and sometimes repaired with taxpayer funds administered by elected officials who are also paid for their services with taxpayer dollars.

When winter arrives, be sure to thank the “socialist” snowplows paid for by tax-levied funds, driven by government paid drivers, who clear our public roads so our kids can be picked up by “socialist” public school busses that take them to completely “socialist” public schools.

Better border protection and immigration restriction are battle cries for many of our tea party colleagues. All paid for with “socialist” collected dollars and administered by a representative democratically elected government.

Today’s political discourse would not be possible without that wonderful “socialist” created method of reaching millions of people known as the Internet. DARPA is a taxpayer funded agency that created the Internet and makes sure it runs smoothly so we can all tell each other what is wrong or correct about “socialism.”

There are many other things we all take for granted and rely upon every day that are “socialistic” in every sense of the word. Fire and police protection, sewer and water systems, agricultural supports and subsidies, electrical grids, universal mail delivery, public parks and forests, relations with foreign governments, sea ports and airports, the national railways and clean air and water regulation enforcement all come to mind.

Those who rely on the epithet “socialism” are afraid to debate the merits of the program they complain about. There is plenty of room to debate whether government or the private sector can do the job better or more efficiently. We have reams of data to support our arguments. Look at the facts, not the labels.