Socialism

Diego Rivera (1934)

“When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall be able to rid ourselves of many of the pseudo-moral principles which have hag-ridden us for two hundred years, by which we have exalted some of the most distasteful of human qualities into the position of highest virtues.” (John Maynard Keynes: from Essays of Persuasion, 1931)

(This article is also part of a thread of conversation in Hassid & Heretic. Many thanks to Reb Streimele for bringing the topic back.)

Once upon a time we had slavery. During that period, we also had free labor, but from the outside, one couldn’t really tell them apart. At least the slave, being property of the owner, would receive enough care to keep him working and healthy. The free worker, however, was NOT the responsibility of the man he labored for, had no benefit from him, and was summarily replaced without warning or concern if he could not meet the standard, either because of infirmity or work-related injury. The robber–barons of the day invented ingenious and devious ways to get the wages they paid out back into company coffers. I think we all remember the inflated prices at company stores and wages paid in coupons. We all remember the horrid photos of children working in deplorable conditions with no benefits and low wages. This is where we are headed. Again.

If you have a weekend to spend with your family, employer paid health care, vacation time, work safety regulations, maternity leave, Worker's compensation, Social security, and unemployment; thank a Socialist. The Socialist movement in the US boasted over 3 million members in the 1920s, and their efforts made what we have today possible. This is not about taking away the right to wealth, the right to earn, or the right to do business. It is about demanding that every person be afforded basic benefits due to them by virtue of their humanity alone. We do not oppose wealth, but the ruthless and unrestricted pursuit of it, where the simple kindnesses are forgotten and lives are bought and sold over fractions of a percentage point in profits.

The system of Corporate Greedism that fought those ‘anti-American’ ideals 100 years ago is taking another stab at it today, and in many states their efforts have proven successful; successful for themselves and their friends perhaps, but there remains no measure of success for the average person. If these obvious facts of life are somehow slipping by you unnoticed, or you simply have chosen to ignore them, explain to me then how you can call yourself moral and ethical while promoting a system that puts its economic boot-heel down on the person who needs a hand up, or justifies using the backs of the poor as step-ladders. These bastards have the gall to BLAME the poor for society’s problems, too, ignoring their own shameless conduct, hiding under reams of legalese and wrapping it in an American flag. The true Whore of Babylon.

The American political scene is turning OBSCENE in what it wishes to foist upon the people; attacking public education, Social Security, Welfare, and other good things that help others. Our tax burden isn't going down at all, the money is being redirected from the public sector into the private. Why? Greed! Nothing but plain, unmitigated selfishness. The enemies of the people are in power right now, finding ways to enrich their cronies with our tax dollars. How much money is raised for getting elected to office? Could that money not be spent saving our social programs? The world has gone insane! The proposed privatization of Social Security will ensure that Wall Street, already rocked by decades and decades of fraud and scandalous ethical breeches, will have its filthy hands in our nation’s most crucial safety net. We are giving them the license to steal. And they will.

Some will complain about the unnamed and faceless person who has abused the system and will demand it to end because it allows for fraud, but when they NEED that same system, i.e. their own SSI benefit, they wail and moan about how little they get. If the casual abuse of a system is reason enough to end it then I say we end Capitalism right now!! I am close to a very wealthy family, anti-socialists as you can imagine. Their life is ALL about business, and despite that they are really nice people to be around. The grandfather is a millionaire a couple of times over, and yet grumbles when his Social Security check is few days late coming in the mail. This same fellow bought a car costing $50k and then protested because his Medicare didn’t cover 20% of his prescriptions! THAT, my friends, is insanity, but it defines the mentality of the hypocritical right wing capitalists, who deride a system that dares to help faceless and nameless others, and in the same breath screams ‘bloody murder’ when that same system doesn’t give them everything they want gratis, even when they don’t need it or can afford it on their own.

American Jews, the Orthodox especially, have become increasingly ME ME ME. Whilst talking about how selfish it is of me to think for myself and not follow their religious values, they march proudly to the ballot boxes and elect those who promise more tax breaks for the already rich and less programs/assistance for those in our nation who haven’t the resources to make ends meet. I smell a rat. There is something twisted about a world that offers free luxury cars to those who can easily afford them, and yet refuses to subsidize the working man’s bus fare; the same worker whose sweat and labor made that luxury automobile possible. For Shame!

Socialism is based upon a simple theme: “There is enough for everyone's need, but NOT everyone's greed.” It's about sharing resources. Sharing requires management. Maybe you don't like to be 'forced' to share. That is the usual response and it's a valid one. Yet, either way, you are going to pay taxes, you are going to follow someone's rules, and you’re going to participate in one system or another. Maybe you'll do well enough to never need public assistance (I hope that is true), but if you ever do, or you have a loved one that does, you will then be very happy such a system exists.

There are many different forms of socialism and communism, and none of them are 100% good ideas, but I'm ok with 90%, or even 75%, because that is to me still 100% better than the GREEDISM that American politics promotes. The problems of society CAN be traced back to money; the theft or the lack of it. Money does not buy happiness, but it does provide the means to escape/mitigate so many of life's little problems before they become big ones. The poor man is no more or less moral than the rich man, but if the rich man contracts an STD or the flu, he takes his insurance card and goes to the doctor. Where does the poor man go without health care? Right now he can go to most county offices and take care of it, but those funds are being cut, too; all in the name of free enterprise and the American Way. The immoral rich man is just as perverse as the immoral poor one. They can, however, bury their shame under mounds of cash, so all is forgiven. The rest of us will, however, carry the burden of the poor man’s downfall as his problems fan out into the rest of society.

You have to wonder why the greatest minds of science, philosophy, literature, and history have advocated one form of socialism or another. It is not surprising that those who see the connectivity and continuity of all things know the need for balanced management and compassion. The greater mind has the wider and more inclusive focus.

“So long as the increased wealth which modern progress brings goes but to build up great fortunes, to increase luxury and to make sharper the contrast between the House of Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot be permanent.” (Henry George, American Economist: from Progress and Poverty, 1897)

“Socialism is the abolition of human self-alienation, the return of man as a real human being.” (Erich Fromm, Psychologist: from Marx’s Concept of Man, 1961)

I believe that a nation which promotes itself as benevolent and compassionate should, once and for all, live up to that noble principle. Socialism is the means and method by which those same values can be manifest. Trusting the current system into the hands of those who profit from it has proven to be a misguided and disastrous fiscal boondoggle. It is time to get the fox out of the henhouse for good.