Why do we progressives respond defensively when we are accused of being socialists?
We could explain that many systems of socialism include agreed upon economic policies and allocation under democratically-elected governments. By contrast, under communism, the state controls property and resources. Communism has fascist leanings where citizens have little say in how things run. Socialism is democracy, and elements of capitalism coexist with it.
Let’s stop romanticizing capitalism as an ideal. In its most extreme form, it works about as well as extreme patriarchy or white supremacy; in other words, it is a dismal system of oppression for most people. The United States is not the only neoliberal capitalist country in the world, but it is the most extreme in terms of wealth inequity. According to a Forbes article (Oct. 8, 2020), the top 1% of U.S. households hold 15 times more wealth than the bottom 50% combined. The wealth gap widened and economic inequality increased in 2020 during the pandemic. It is particularly obscene that billionaire wealth skyrocketed at an unprecedented rate.
As an imperialist power, the United States invades countries, engages in conflicts and wars, and supports dictatorships for economic benefit. Retired U.S. Army Major Richard Ojeda recently lamented, “Two trillion dollars to train and equip the Afghan military over the past 20 years. They fell in a week. It was never about real training. It was about military contractors and corporations raking in the profits. I am numb.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has quietly paid for charter flights to rescue women and children at risk in Afghanistan, while former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince is monetizing the crisis by charging $6,500 per person for a seat on a plane. His total lack of moral coherence — profiting from desperation — is despicable and not surprising.
In the midst of a deeply divided society, I consider what Martin Luther King Jr. warned regarding the distribution of American resources. In 1967, he said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Iceland is a country I feel very connected to in many ways. I first traveled there in 2010, and several memorable things occurred. I have since visited several times and made friends there over the years. Iceland has no military, they have universal health care, and tuition is free at state universities. The poverty rate is 9%. It is closer to 14% in the United States.
In Iceland, the prime minister serves as the head of government in a multiparty system. Icelanders are consistently rated in the top five for the global happiness index. The United States was rated number 19 in 2019.
The countries with high ratings have stronger social support and universal health care. Nordic countries reign at the top as democracies with less wealth inequality and regulated capitalism — what the right-wingers here call “socialism.”
We can make the argument that there would be no public schools, libraries, police and fire departments and maintained highways without our own support of these “socialist” programs through taxes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has worked for many years to get wealthy residents and corporations to pay their fair share. If the United States was better regulated, that would already be happening. Sorely needed funding for infrastructure and anti-poverty programs such as free tuition, health care, truly affordable housing and child care can be a reality if we simply insist on eliminating tax loopholes for the rich.
The harder and also necessary path is to seriously decrease our military budget and the reliance on a perverse defense program. The latest figure, from July of this year, has our annual budget at $778 billion — more than the next 11 countries combined. China, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Australia have a combined budget of $761 billion.
Imagine how a large chunk of those funds could support the residents of our country to eliminate food insecurity and to support companies and farmers with better practices to do less harm to the environment. Fewer soldiers and more opportunities for stateside careers. Jobs that are less likely to include trauma and physical injury.
Let’s tell the socialism naysayers that we are all in for a socialist democracy. If they want an unfair, unhappy world with economic misery, they may need counseling or an expansion of their knowledge base to think through the implication of their biases.
In a socialist democracy, people participate in laws, regulations and shared principles of fairness. Consider that the average CEO salary in Iceland is four times that of the average worker. In the United States, CEOs make 299 times the salary of the average worker. No wonder Icelanders are more content.
At this juncture, the world is messy and dangerous, and it is time to create new systems. Capitalism is an insidious form of dictatorship. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that corporations have the same rights as people in many circumstances while whittling away at the voting rights of actual people. This is ridiculous.
J.M. Sorrell is a social justice activist/trainer and a health care advocate.