| | Where have all of the socialists gone? Back in the era of McCarthyism you could always count on a few socialists lurking around here and there, fighting for the oppressed middle class. Anymore, you're hard pressed to find any inside these here United States, aside from at a Rage Against the Machine concert and the occasional Canadian visitor. Why is socialism so taboo here in the good old US of A? We've been socialists for years! Socialism crept into the United States with the help of everyone's favorite President FDR in 1935 when he signed the Social Security Act on August 14th. Welfare and Social Security are two programs that came about as a result of the Social Security Act. These programs involve the redistribution of monies from one group (taxpayers) to another group (the impovrished, the retired the unemployed). This is socialism. Socialists believe in the collective control of assets by the community (understand that these are general terms). In the case of the United States, a portion of assets is forcefully taken from the wage earner (itemized on their paycheck as "FICA" which stands for Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax and SECA for the Self Employed), this money then whirls around in the giant Federal Machine randomly finding it's way into various pockets along the way and eventually it is spit back out into welfare offices or maybe even your grandparents' mail box. Upon exiting the giant Federal Machine the initial sum of the forcibly taken money is diminished, some of it gobbled up for who knows what by who knows who. I know that you're thinking, "But this money is going to my grandparents, and they really need it," and I won't disagree, Social Security money goes to some very deserving people, people who are past their working years, or who are otherwise unable to work or perhaps the primary wage earner in their family has died, or maybe they just need a little cash between jobs, all worthy causes no doubt. I for one have benefited from Social Security far more than the average American, and through no small amount of coercion, I continue to pay into the system as crooked and inefficient as I think it is. So what is my point? First of all, Socialism is alive and well in the United States. Socialism weathered McCarthyism with little trouble, and has continued to thrive and grow since. Socialism's most recent campaign is that of Socialized medicine. Medicare provides health insurance to those who are over 65 or disabled, Medicaid provides health services to those who are impovrished. There are those who would like to provide health insurance to all children in the United States. If you can't see the slippery slope you're blind. If the government provides health care for us when we're old and when we can't work and now when we're young, why not just have the government provide health insurance for everyone all the time, cradle to grave. Canada does it. And so does all of Europe. They also pay from 5 to 30% more of their income to the government than we do here. In some European countries this can be as high as 55%. To put that into perspective for you, if you made $36,000 in Belgium, the government would take $19,800 and you would be left with the rest. But your health care would be covered. Point 2 being; Socialized medicine = High taxes. On to Point 3. Because socialism is alive and well in the United States, there should be a socialist party. I know, I know that would make us more like France and nobody wants that (except Canadians that don't like the cold), but the Socialist party could be the haven for all of those in current political parties who are pushing these socialist ideas of saving Social Security and Socializing Medicine. We have a democratic party but we're not a democracy. Why not have a Socialist party to un-muddy the water some? Point 4: The United States of America aka The Republic of the United States of America is not a Democracy. Democracies elect federal government officials by popular vote. If we did that John Kerry would have been President. We are a Republic (which makes us similar to France), we elect representatives. Once again, USA: not a democracy. Republic - it's in the name people. My number one election year pet peeve. Point V: Also mentioned with Point III, Social Security (the retirement kind) is not something to rely on. While it works great for my Grandparents and their generation, I (we) won't see a dime of it. It should be phased out as soon as possible so that those who want to retire in the future (me) can take that money and do something else with it like put it in a 401k or IRA, anything as long as the government is "hands off." It's not called "Social Insecurity" for nothing. |
