There's a pretty harsh truth in our society that we don't seem to be willing to accept: A free society is a society that will inherently be unequal. An equal society is a society that will level the playing field for everyone, and at the same time, reduce the freedom that people have from the beginning of their lives.
In America, we happen to love this one "f-word" more than anything else — freedom. At least, we think we do.
We were once enemies of socialism, communism and ruling. Nobody could tell us what we could and couldn't do.
But the truth is, that's changing.
See, a system can only do as well as its leaders, and the interests that they hold for America. And lately, under our long-running capitalism show, it has begun to look like it's incrementally broken.
According to a 2013 Gallup poll, a mere 11 percent of business leaders thought that graduates were ready to be part of the workforce. Another poll of theirs (2016-17) indicated that 67 percent of people in the lower class feared homelessness and hunger, up from 51 percent just six years ago.
In 2017, the total household debt broke 13 trillion. Our education system is still incrementally broken, more than 20 of American states have obesity rates at 40 percent. We lead in incarceration rates and military spending, our student loan debt is the highest in the OECD Community and most Americans who voted didn't want two out of the three presidents of 3 of our most recent major elections.
We aren't the golden compass of what a great country is anymore. America isn't the dreamland that it used to be.
In fact, less than 50 percent of us in 2018 could say we were extremely proud of the country we live in. That's some tough love.
But there's a bigger truth to look at. Even though we've got our problems in America, we've been able to get past them with some level of success. And this isn't something that America can't fight.
But we've got to stop trying to fall in love with democratic socialism. In an age where inequality has created incredible levels of opportunity gaps, we're pushing toward a nation of equality over freedom. That's wrong.
Socialism isn't the solution to our problems. It allows for increased government control, and even if the leaders of the movement are amazing, they will eventually get replaced. Then there's no stopping a corrupt figure from taking the reigns and messing with America. That's a lot of power to give to only a couple of people.
Instead, it's mainframe capitalism that needs a reform. In today's day and age, it — just like socialism — has given far too much power to far too little people. Come 2020, with more Democratic Socialists coming close to or even winning elections, this really needs to be looked at before we decide socialism is the best answer.
Ideally, the middle is the best — where, rather than inducing massive taxes on the rich, taxes are lowered for them, and the classes are divided into larger segments.
What capitalism truly needs is a quick bath to drown out corruption. Excessive levels of lobbying by corporations need to have financial limits, and the system structured under it needs to be reformed so that, if it interferes excessively with what facts may align as right, it cannot be in play for much longer.
Minimum wage should become a ratio at inflation, rather than a constant number. Legalize more medicinal drugs, make more of them recreational and tax more. Marijuana, for example, could add nearly $130 billion in tax revenue by 2025 if legalized.
In turn, we get to keep more of our freedom. And a more transparent capitalistic system could keep things pulsing.
But the truth is, this won't happen until we make it happen. We need to fight for new ideas like some have fought for socialism and current capitalism. Unfortunately for us, people like money too much.
