The Socialist Boogeyman

I’m hearing a lot of the “S” word lately on the news and on the presidential campaign trail. Of course, the mere mention of this word polarizes society, and plays on the fears of American citizens.

I would just like to remind everyone of one thing: Socialism is a political and economic system. That’s all it is. It is not a boogeyman that will turn us into a nation of mind-controlled dolts.

Before you start calling me a commie let me explain myself. I have no problem debating the merits of free-market capitalism versus some type of democratic socialism. My problem is the demagoguery that stifles intellectual debate.

We have a knee-jerk reaction at the very mention of socialism. We boo and hiss and work ourselves into a frenzy. If you ask those who are booing and hissing “What exactly is so bad about socialism?” you will very likely get a blank stare.

This type of fear-mongering does a disservice to everyone involved. Just about every modern government, including the United States, has some socialist aspects to it. Some governments lean more socialist that others.

The United States is in the process of nationalizing the country’s banking systems. Yes, this is a socialist move, but we can’t intellectually discuss its merits because we have predetermined that socialism is the devil.

The politicians say “We did it only because we had no choice”. Not surprisingly, the American public reacted rather strongly against the bailout and nationalization of the financial markets. After all, we’ve had it drilled into our heads for generations that socialism is “evil”. Not an inferior system but a scourge upon the earth that goes against everything that we believe.

Free market capitalism may very well be a superior economic and social structure to socialism. I wish we would just remember that both are just systems. They both have good and bad characteristics. We’re seeing some of the downsides of capitalism right now with the economic struggles and bank failures.

I’m not a socialist, and I’m not a capitalist. I’m a human being and an American citizen, and I’m a little insulted at the implication that adopting any socialist policies will result in a transformation of American democracy into some type of communist dictatorship.