In the last two
years, media coverage of socialism has become increasingly common. Of course, a
lot of the criticism leveled against socialism comes from Republicans/conservatives,
who are the traditional opponents of that economic system and strong supporters
of capitalism. Although many Democrats are also talking up socialism, it’s in a
form many of us may not be familiar with, democratic socialism. In this short discussion, I focus briefly on the differences between capitalism and democratic
socialism and why voters should care about which prevails in America’s
near-term future.
Capitalism is an
economic system of private ownership of capital and the means of production
that is focused on the creation of wealth by owners (including stockholders).
That system is also characterized by competition between companies striving for
market dominance. In a real world capitalistic society, the production and
pricing of goods and services are determined by the market. However, a certain
amount of government regulation and intervention may pertain. The down-sides of
capitalism include monopolistic behavior, price-fixing, stock manipulation and
fraud, negative externalities damaging the environment, a lack of competition, creation
of financial elites and inequality, and exploitation of labor and consumers.
Democratic
socialism (and plain vanilla socialism) differs from capitalism in supporting various
forms of worker control of firms and various levels of government control of
investment. The goal of democratic socialism is to shift power from corporate
capital and the One Percent (the wealthy elite) to workers and even consumers. Unlike
the social democracies of Western Europe that are compatible with regulated
capitalism, democratic socialists are fundamentally anti-capitalistic and most
believe government at various levels and scales should encourage (force)
privately owned businesses to turn over as much operational control as possible
to workers.
Here’s the gospel according
to the official Democratic Socialists of America’s website: “To achieve a more
just society, many structures of our government and economy must be radically
transformed through greater economic and social democracy so that ordinary
Americans can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives.” As part
of that radical transformation, the workers and consumers who are affected by businesses
should own and control them. That “social” ownership could take many forms,
such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by
workers and consumer representatives. Although the large concentrations of
capital in economic sectors, such as energy and heavy industry, may necessitate
some form of government ownership, many consumer goods industries might be best
run as cooperatives. Source: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/
The downsides of
democratic socialism include a decreased emphasis on entrepreneurship, de-emphasis
on individual achievement, increased government control, increased bureaucracy
and a concomitant decline in efficiency, decrease in competitive drive, and
uncertainty over how transition from capitalism to social control of companies
would be financed.
It should be
obvious that those two systems are not only very different but also that only one,
capitalism, is in effect today in America. Replacing it with democratic
socialism would necessarily involve widespread and fundamental changes to our
country and potentially significant socioeconomic disruptions.
Here’s my bottom line. The
typical American doesn’t give a rat’s ass about economic systems as such. They basically
want the government to work well while leaving them alone but also to make sure
they are warm in the heart of winter and cool in the heat of summer. In their
heart of hearts, ordinary Americans want to drive the biggest-baddest Ford pick-up,
a top of the line mongo SUV, and a Mercedes Benz AMG or two; own five or six
multi-million dollar houses located in the world’s great cities; vacation on a 200-foot
yacht in Saint-Tropez or Tahiti; ski in Gstaad; and belong to exclusive country
clubs. Deep down all those average, working- and middle-class Americans want
what Karl Marx failed to realize would prove the fallacy of his elegant
theorizing: they just want to be as rich and powerful as Bill Gates or Jeff
Bezos. They desperately want capitalism to work for them exactly the way Good
Witch Glinda worked for Dorothy.
But, in some deep recess of
their primitive lizard brain stems, those typical Americans know all those
Power Ball and Mega Millions tickets are not going to pay off and no Uncle
Roscoe or Aunt Minnie is going to kick the bucket and leave them rolling in umpty
billion smackeroos. So, what do all those people depend on to save them in
their old age from merciless penury and homelessness? Two things: Medicare/Medicaid
and Social Security, programs created by Democrats and despised by Republicans,
who correctly bash them as socialist.
What all that boils down to
is if average voters think Democrats are moving far to the left under the influence
of democratic socialists like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and if one
of the Party’s hardline leftists becomes its candidate for President promising
to get rid of nasty old capitalism, their fear and loathing will drive them to shitcan
nearly every Democrat running for public office and re-elect that flaming
asshole, Donald Trump. In the coming elections, if the Democratic Party cannot
win a majority of independent and moderate voters, people whose livelihoods and
very existence depend on capitalism, it’s game over for the presidency and for all
too many Congressional seats.
If that’s not want you want,
it’s time to get off your butts and start financially supporting more moderate
Democratic Party candidates and get a lot more vocal about why you are
supporting those candidates. We are facing a political disaster of the first
magnitude in the coming election and do not have the luxury of misinterpreting
the severity of that situation. If we don’t get our act together to defeat
Trump now and argue about moving left later, we’re looking at a full blown
catastrophe.
In this crisis, pragmatism must
prevail over ideological purity and grandiose leftist dreams or Trump will be
re-elected and we’ll be holding our heads in our hands, wondering what the Hell
went wrong. Again.
