A Lesson in Socialism for the Truly Confused

Well I've gone and done it now. I dared to utter the "S word." We hear socialism brought up all the time in this country: "socialism is un-American," "socialism killed the dinosaurs," "socialism causes severe indigestion when consumed in large doses," etc. Frankly, I have been defending it at every opportunity simply because if Sarah Palin fears it then it must be good. But even I don't really know what it is. Were I to believe everything I was told, I would know that capitalism is the way of God (note: I'm not dissing God or religion here, I merely question the validity of the claim that Jesus was capitalist) and socialism is when the government ritualistically summons your grandparents to die. Well in light of what capitalism has done for us lately, I thought I'd so some research.

Cash money bitches!!!! (Source: Banksy)

Before moving forward, though, I'd like to clarify that I am not necessarily advocating for a socialist America (just a mostly socialist America). It's ridiculous to look at this as black and white because no single modern industrialized political system fits entirely into one bucket. We are a capitalist country with welfare programs, state highway systems, public parks and conservation land, national scholarships and grants, and all sorts of socialist initiatives that have served us well. So yes, we can have our cake and eat it too.

So on to the main event: what is socialism? When researching the term, I kept seeing similarities to another one of our greatest national treasures (besides capitalism) - democracy. In fact, socialism is much more democratic than capitalism ever will be. Capitalism favors command, whereby the very few control the means of production and are looked up to by everyone else because they are very very rich. Yes, people can rise to greatness riding on wings of their own resourcefulness (or a trust fund), but they go on to become kings of industry in that they literally have the power to rule the country like kings. Socialism is about equitable distribution of power. There are countless versions and theories, but they all favor majority (i.e. democratic) control of either factors of production (investment, commodities, etc.) or outputs of production (the actual goods and services produced). Or it could simply be a scenario in which individual companies dissolve traditional hierarchy and adopt a system where every worker has equal decision making power (there are actually plenty of companies that do that already in America). In other words, decentralization of power combined with an economic system in which goods and services are allocated based on social need rather than revenue generation. Alas, I was able to find no mention of goose-stepping or death panels.

The first picture that comes up when you Google the term "socialist."
(Source: www.thepeoplescube.com - check it out, it's a riot)

So what does this mean for us patriotic Americans? Would everyone have to give up their hard-earned wages in favor of equal government handouts? Short answer, no. Long answer, absolutely not. Nowhere does it say that some people can't earn higher wages than others because they have more expertise, work harder, or generally contribute more. But when decisions are made by everyone with everyone in mind, those differentials will be smaller. The top 2% would definitely make less in a socialist economy, but then again only 2% of us get to be them anyway. The majority of people would see their wages and standard of living go up because the money that those privileged few have to give up would be redistributed.

The problem is that we keep getting scared by things that aren't really true. Capitalism and socialism don't have to be mutually exclusive. Privatization still occurs under many socialist ideologies, but only where it is appropriate. We just have to realize that in some cases profiteering simply results in people getting screwed (health care, cable and broadband internet, prisons, etc.). Also, we keep letting jackasses like Hugo Chavez ruin socialism for us. That's like letting Mel Gibson ruin Christianity for everyone else. Most of the fear that exists comes from people who benefit from our current system of exploitation telling us what to believe.

I'll finish this with a story from last night. I was having a conversation with a man who works as a driver for FedEx. He has been there for many years, is extremely loyal to the company, and knows the game of supply chain operation like the back of his hand. He told me that, in order to keep costs low, the company has to cut corners on trivial things like the trucks they drive every single day. His vehicle is the newest on the lot... it's a '94. Most of them are from the late '80's to early 90's, have 300,000-400,000 miles on them, and sit on rotted frames. They are being asked to make more deliveries in less time, greatly sacrificing customer service. And these drivers care very deeply about their customers. But while the company can't afford these nice things, they can afford $7.6 million / year to purchase the Washington Redskins' stadium and $20-25 million to sponsor a Nascar team. None of the workers have a say in that decision. Funny how we reject the idea of a monarchy as a country but put up with it every day of our lives when we go to work. What if all FedEx employees from the CEO down to the drivers were allowed to vote on where that $32 million should be spent? Then again, we wouldn't want to accidentally commit an act of socialism now would we?