Understanding Capitalism and Democratic Socialism

“At a time when a leading presidential candidate and members of Congress are turning toward socialism, Amb. Haley argues there’s never been a more important time to stand for capitalism.”

This is the level of ignorance that the Republicans are aggressively playing to in their campaign messaging.  Two key things:

• There is no such thing as pure capitalism in the real world. (I use “real” to separate out Ayn Rand’s fiction.)  The United States has nationalized public education, road and highways, bridges, airports, trains, fire fighting, policing, criminal justice, national defense, space exploration, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as spending in unemployment and welfare, education and training, protection of natural resources and the environment, foreign affairs, agriculture, subsidies, and science and technology.  Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2021 calls for a record $4.829 trillion in federal government spending.  (Btw, he claims that the revenue will hit $3.8 trillion, thus raising the national debt by only $1 trillion, whereas this is regarded by economists as a fantasy.)

• Republicans don’t want you to know that democratic socialism is the system of government that powers countries like Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.  The word “socialism” sounds scary to Americans…until they understand what it means: Government collects taxes and spends the money on things people want, in the process building a healthier and better educated country with lower racial hatred and reduced crime rates.

The GOP is going to make the specter of Stalinism rain down on the American electorate.  Don’t take the bait.