I hear a lot these days from the american right about how the government is trying to "take over our lives" and how it's become "socialist". aside from the fact that these people don't actually understand socialism, and that they also call obama fascist at the same time (ignorance...sigh) let's delve into the issue of socialism.
but rather than argue it as a theory, i'm going to take a lesson from history.
at the end of the 19th century in america a system of wealthy elite had emerged from the new industry sector in America. The rockefellers and their ilk soon became known as "robber barons". This may not have actually applied to the rockefellers but they were all part of the same system. the government, new to big industry, was understandably slow in it's ability to regulate. by the time of the mid 1920's america was incredibly wealthy based off of the success of these largely unregulated businesses but this did not translate to the "everday joe". you will remember literature about the terrible working conditions in the mines and in the slaughterhouses etc etc for the common man. then shockingly, it all fell apart. the GREAT DEPRESSION.
Now let's review what led us out of the great depression. FDR implemented the New Deal, which meant huge government spending, and huge taxes (on the wealthy) and gov regulation of big business. it also meant empowering labor unions and the common man post WW2 this led to the most educated, most prosperous generation in American history and the largest growth of the middle class in any nation (ever?).
and we trotted merrily along enjoying our wealth until along came the return of the republicans in the form of Nixon. To be specific it might have started with McCarthyism putting the fear of Communists (and thus socialists because people are too ignorant to be able to distinguish) into the common man. (this might have been the conservative movements greatest success for it allowed them to scare the public into submission simply by enacting the ghost of communism coming to their shores, though we now know communism was at no time the threat it was represented to be). america's first major mistake since WW2. A crook and a monster, Nixon is recorded as having officially worked to kill a public health care system so that private corporations could reap the benefit at the expense of the public. And from there things begin to fall apart. Along came Ford, who not only pardoned Reagan (WTF?) but also failed to reverse his pro big business shadiness. Reagan, the first real puppet of the corporatocracy (ok, i made up this word I think), deregulated big business, ramped up millitary spending and american militarism globally. he also gave huge tax cuts ...to the wealthy. did i mention he also had a huge gov deficit at the end of his eight years? Along came Bush. A bit of an asshole but overall not awful, however, he didn't reverse Reagons' mistakes...and the deficit continued. than came clinton...well clinton had his problems but mostly it centered around the fact that the republicans controlled the legislative branch and so, effectively, nothing was accomplished during these 8 years.
Ah...and now the disaster. Republicans control the legislature and the whitehouse is in the hands of a C avg cheerleader who has already led 3 companies and texas to ruins. well...what did we expect? by 2005 we had the largest wealth disparity in america seen prior to the Great Depression (or perhaps of all time in america). The middle class was (and is still) disappearing. Did I mention though that Bush saved us all money by slashing taxes (for the wealthy). The corporatocracy finally achieved their goals with the gov having almost no oversight of big business and the economy was booming (though somehow this didn't seem to translate to your "avg joe". maybe because it was all being shipped overseas, including the wealth, to be hoarded by transnationals in overseas bank accounts). militarism had reached its peak in the invasion and privatization of the wars in the middle east. and then...
the 2nd great depression.
or would have been except for Obama who, being the top of his class in harvard law, and having a wife who is by all accounts even more intelligent and successful, immediately implemented FDR era steps to resolve the crisis. and low, 2 months in, we already see the global economic crisis slowly stabalizing. big business has started to report profits again, there is hope.
Lessons learned? Tax the wealthy (50-70% or higher). Keep the Death tax (it's not hurting you avg Joe, it's just preventing wealth accumalation amongst the wealthiest 1%). Regulate the hell out of big business. they have acknowledged repeatedly that they are not responsible to their employees or to the public, they are responsible to their stockholders. that means they'll make the most money the fastest way possible, and that will almost always be at the long-term expense of the public because it is based on short-term, private greed. Consider carefully whether you want to allow gov, which is directly controlled by the people, or big business, which is controlled by the wealthy elite, to control your lives (someone will be in charge, anarchy and liberatarianism is cute but it's never actually worked in a major nation, nor can it). Leave guns alone (lesson learned from Australia). Decriminalize drugs (lesson from Portugal). End global militarism (lesson taught to us by our founding fathers 300+ years ago). let's kick the shit out of the taliban in pakistan and let the chips fall where they may in Iraq (and get the hell out). Reaching out to Iran is exactly the right step (well done). and I'll stop there. these lessons are not theoretical economic arguments. these have been tried both ways in the past and some have led to success, others to fucking GREAT DEPRESSIONS.
why is this so hard?
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1 comments:
It would all just make way too much sense...!
Excellent argument.
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