What is Socialism? When people hear socialism, all sorts of stereotypes come to mind: Communism. The Soviet Union. Scandinavia. Marxism. Lenin. Stalin. The attitude towards socialism in the United States has become amalgamated with that towards communism. That is not without cause. There are definite similarities between socialism and communism. And the attitude towards communism is not completely unmerited. Soviet Russia is the last great enemy that America faced; however, this conflict that lasted best part of a century has created a serious misunderstanding among Americans. So what does socialism mean?
Socialism means that the government owns and maintains the means of production. These are split in to two categories, instruments and subjects of labor. Tools are factories, machinery, and infrastructure. Subjects include natural resources. Communism on the other hand is a system in which the government owns and regulates everything. Literally everything. All resources, all land property, products, means of production, and every-day goods. Furthermore, a communist government exerts total control over markets. That is not what socialism is, nor what it has come to mean in the 21st century.
Today, socialism has become identified with social programming. Welfare, public education, and public healthcare all are hallmarks of socialist-leaning states. In America these types of programs have been portrayed negatively. In some places, federal programs are seen in the same way as federal law, merely more ways for the government to meddle in states' sovereignty.
Programs like social security and welfare are further seen as detrimental to America's work ethic and capitalism general. People seem to think that the government should not be there to help the least fortunate members of our society. They are right, are they not? Wrong. This is America, a person has to make their own way and not wait around for a handout. The goal of socialism is not to eliminate the entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity in a society.
What socialism has come to mean is that we do not let people die from lack of healthcare. We do not allow minimum wage-workers to be denied the quality of life and basic securities that everyone enjoys. We should not allow wealth to be the prerequisite for education. Most critically, socialism has come to mean that poverty not be allowed to cripple our nation.
The funny thing is that by the traditional definition, the United States already has many socialist elements. Many means of production are controlled by the state. Natural resources are regulated and maintained heavily by state and federal governments. Permits are required before any sort of resource acquisition can be initiated. You even need a license before you can fish, and a whole different level of permission before you can fish commercially. What about infrastructure? Much of the transportation infrastructure in the United States is owned, or partially owned by government. The government also has about a 25 percent stake in energy production, and 20 percent ownership of the energy grid.
This, of course, differs from pure socialism in that there is so much real-estate and production machinery that the government does not own. And in some ways, this is a good system. By not owning all the instruments of production, the American dream is allowed to perpetuate. One who owns their own tools, as in any place and objects used to produce goods or service, can, and hopes to raise themselves to a better standard of living.
Americans also know that large companies dominate certain areas of production and services. Agriculture, banking, cable and cell service providers, all have become largely condensed into large corporations that control everything except the subjects (and some limited instruments) of production. In the face of accelerating corporate control of the country, and elections, we have to realize socialism only means the preservation and expansion of the beneficial systems that already exist.
