Socialism Is The Future For America
We the people, love freedom. We have been told we love freedom since we were a child, but who really benefits from this freedom? When is it too much freedom? Some would think that it becomes too much when you have the freedom to step on others to get what you want. Most people won’t do this because they are compassionate human beings, but corporations, companies and millionaires are a completely different story. The freedoms we enjoy are manipulated by these people for their benefit at our expense. The current economic system enables these behaviors to persist.
Incase I haven’t made it clear, capitalism is the problem with today's society. A well spoken statement from the Harry and Fred Magdoff in “Approaching Socialism” was that “capitalism is a system that must expand. ” considering that resources are finite, this makes capitalism unsustainable. We saw how fragile capitalism is with the great depression and the housing market crash from 2008. The need to keep expanding is also the reason why everything is so competitive. Competition leads to foul play and is an all around unpleasant experience.
Moving away from why Capitalism doesn’t work, why haven’t we stopped using it? Because we are addicted, we are a blind addict of hope. The American dream is the perfect example of how we as a society cling to the promise of wealth and success like a mouse running into a trap. We all dream of being something and the few of us who reach that goal do so by running over everyone else's dream. An article in “The Economist” called “Leaders: Inequality and the American Dream - Inequality and the American Dream; The United States,” states that “Only one in four Americans believes the economy is in good shape. ” Despite this there are still politicians who defend a system that only 25% of people agree with. The number of spots at the top are smaller than the spots at the bottom meaning only a select few get to be considered the top 1%. The number of people in the top 1% will always be less than the number of people in the top 100% which is unfair to those at the bottom.
This is why socialism is a great idea, instead of having an extremely wealthy upper class we could have no upper class at all. What are the benefits of not having anyone be wealthy? No one is above you. Due to how capitalist societies work, money is a status symbol that means you are higher up socially than other less motivated members of society. With socialism, everyone is equally below the government in status and no one has the money to start businesses. You can’t be taken advantage of by corporations if no one has the money to start one.
One question people ask is how do you know this will work? My answer to this question is simple; look at China. The success of China is well illustrated by Keith Bradsher and Li Yuan’s article called “China’s Economy Became No. 2 by Defying No. 1. ” In the article they explain that China’s policy reforms in the late 1980’s “would free entrepreneurs to seek their fortunes, while still keeping a tight grip on essential economic levers. ” At first there was some push back, but after Tiananmen Square people realized that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. Not only have these economic policies not hurt the nation, but they have helped them become one of the most successful nations in the world.
When talking about socialism, many people bring up the failed nation of Venezuela. One of these nonbelievers, Daniel Di Martino, describes in “Socialism destroyed my home, Venezuela,” the so called “flaws” in socialism. In this article he talks about resource shortages. He says “The first time I couldn’t buy food at the grocery store, I was 15 years old. ” The problem with this thinking is that it is very negative. He didn’t have problems with acquiring food for 15 years, that’s pretty good. Some might think of this as an issue, but with the guidance of the experienced financiers that inhabit the white house, we could easily become the most competitive nation in the world and avoid the mismanagement issues of Venezuela. We could get free education, free insurance, free housing, free food. The government will be able to provide anything you need without even having to work for it. Many people would jump at the chance to have such a sheltered life style free of hardships. All we have to do is give up our basic freedoms in exchange for basic necessities.
There is a greater and greater push for socialist reform in America so these points that I am arguing aren’t that crazy. As Ned Temko wrote in “Adam Smith’s hidden hand of empathy”: “The policy debate differs from country to country. But the core issue is the same: the huge economic power residing in a very few individuals and corporations at the top,” and “A well of economic resentment has helped fuel the rise of populist politicians. ” These are issues that are plaguing all of the top nations in the world. People are not satisfied with the unequal treatment of citizens. If the previous article wasn’t enough here is another one written by Mark Trumbull called: “Why capitalism in America now needs its defenders. ” He writes “Social mobility has declined in the United States,” and “two-thirds of workers, according to Gallup surveys, are either disengaged or not engaged … not cognitively and emotionally connected to their work and workplace. ” This is exactly why we need to get rid of the top/middle classes and let our government decide which jobs we should and should not have.
