There's been a lot of talk of “Socialism” in America ever since our first African-American President took office in 2009. And now, with the advent of Senator Bernie Sanders drawing tens of thousands of supporters, even in deep red states, the "S" word of American politics is being bandied about again. While Sanders himself may refer to himself as a socialist (which some reprehensible man at the National Review thought would be hilarious to turn into calling a Jewish man a “National Socialist” which is where we get the term “Nazi”), the ideas being talked about in his campaign don't sound like Socialism to me.
It sounds more like Capitalism.
Socialism has just become another word:like Nazi, Communism, Terrorism, and so on, that’s meant to sound different and foreign and scary, with little to no substance to back it up. If you don't like someone, you tar them with this dirty word as an argument-ender: you don't have a leg to stand on, as far as facts go, so you appeal to a visceral reaction to a scary sounding word. However, as I mentioned last week, the scare is starting to wear off. As people are becoming more informed via the internet and not the corporate-controlled media, they’re starting to think that voting for a Socialist wouldn’t be all that bad.
But is this really Socialism?
Look at it this way: From the years 1932 to roughly 1968, we had a string of fairly liberal Presidents. Even the Republican Eisenhower, courted by both parties, settled in as a moderate Republican who signed off on massive government spending projects and tax rates on the super-wealthy that would be unheard of today to stave off financial collapse as the wartime economic boom came to an end. Eisenhower, the famous general, knew that you couldn't support an economy by building tanks and bullets, specifically if you didn't have a war to use them in, and he was distrustful of those who went looking for war as a way to line their pockets. If you don’t believe me, guess who coined the favorite liberal term “military-industrial complex.” During this era of American Liberalism (under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson), backed by what would now be considered diabolically liberal senators and representatives (like Mondale, McCarthy, Humphrey) our economic growth exploded, the middle class did better than ever before, and the country was in that Golden Age people always like to talk about when they talk about the “good old days.”
But starting in the 1970s, things got a little rough. The economy contracted, due to foreign and domestic issues, and we found ourselves facing the first real challenge to the strongly liberal America. Through shady tactics, Presidents like Nixon and Reagan came to power, and through them America decided to try a conservative experiment. Reagan, both Bushes, and even Clinton and Obama, who supported deregulating the banks, bailing out the banks, NAFTA, and the TPP, are far from screaming liberals. We’ve had a conservative experiment in this country for longer than I’ve been alive, experimenting with the conservative hit parade of tax breaks, loopholes, and other supply side economic theory.
With production up, corporate profits sky high, CEO salaries increasing tenfold, and regular salaries being less and less despite record stock gains... I think it’s safe to say it hasn’t worked for the vast majority of Americans. And a situation like this, a situation where a man tells you to give him money so he can make you money, then bolts with the money you’ve given him, is not a workable system. In fact, it’s a Ponzi scheme.
We’re not asking for a socialist redistribution of wealth; we’re asking for our money back. For at least 30 years now we’ve let the money flow to the top because the belief has been they will spend it and jumpstart the economy. We've been investing in them, investing in the idea, and it's far past the time when any broker would tell us to get out. But, as we can see, rich people don’t get rich by spending money, they get rich by keeping money. They aren’t spending it, they aren’t stimulating the economy, so we want our money back. We are not seeing a return on investment, so we want a refund... and if that isn’t Capitalism, what is? The defenders for the way things are, the status quo, howl constantly about letting the "free market" decide, it's time for the market to take control. We are the investors. We are the market. And we're done throwing our money into this pit.
There's a lot of talk now about Donald Trump, and most of it comes from Donald Trump himself, about his success as a businessman. Yet, it seems like Bernie Sanders, the self-professed Socialist, understands how business works. Perhaps this is why Mr. Trump's companies have gone bankrupt several times, because he doesn't care about his company making money or helping others, he cares only about advancing his name and making as much personal income as possible.
It's time the American people got out of this bad business deal, and started demanding a return on investment. We want our money back. Surely, someone like Mr. Trump can understand that?
At Your Service,
Doremus Jessup
