The Issues, No. 56 - Socialism in America

I find it somewhat amusing that the Republicans are calling Barack Obama a socialist. I think this notion came from his discussion with “Joe the Plumber” where Mr. Obama told Joe something like an increased tax on small businesses that earn over $250K would help to spread the wealth around.

I say, “So what! And who cares!” I doubt if the people who are making the accusation really understand what Mr. Obama was trying to say and/or understand what socialism is. And, if he is socialist in some of his thinking, what’s wrong with that? Weren’t a number of the programs created under FDR to get the country back on its feet during the Great Depression socialistic? Haven’t some of those programs, like our Social Security System, continued to exist as major parts of our economy?

Our country is currently experiencing a severe financial crisis. Our government is spending huge amounts of money to help our failing corporations to get back on their feet and the government, in return, has told some of those corporations it wants a piece of their ownership. That is socialistic because the government will now have some say in what these corporations do and how they do it, but it makes a whole lot of sense for the government to want something in return for its investment. And, don’t forget; the government is the people and so we the people who are spending money to bail these failed companies out are, for a change, going to get something for our investment.

I don’t think it’s so bad to have a socialistic type of approach to solving some of our country’s problems, particularly when the problems are as severe as the current financial crisis. I don’t think it is such a bad idea to increase the taxes of the wealthiest people if it will help the people who are hardest hit by the financial crisis and are struggling to keep their heads above water. And finally, I don’t necessarily think socialism is bad. Great Britain has, at times, had Democratic Socialism as has Germany and those countries have not done so badly, nor have their people. Out of control capitalism, which got us into our financial crisis and Communism which is kind of an extreme branch of socialism, are both less desirable than the socialism we have and are using now to help us recover financially.