“We will never be a socialist nation!”
The first time I heard this from a conservative friend I sort of chuckled and said: “We already are.” I had to hear somebody say it again before I figured out what they meant. What they meant is “We will never be Soviet Russia.”
Conservative influencers work hard to equate socialism with brutal dictatorship. It’s why they lean so hard on Venezuela and the USSR. (Not modern Russia, of course, because they’re our buddies and they’re a kleptocracy now and that’s way, way better than socialism.)
They never offer you Sweden as an example. Sweden is about as socialist as you can get and yet everybody would like to move there if their weather was better. Why don’t conservative influencers use Sweden as an example? Why ignore Sweden? Because Sweden is still a vibrant democracy and without that, you can’t have a healthy society.
Socialism is an economic theory. Democracy is a method of government.
Oppression was never on the ballot
Well, of course not! Not even the Russians wanted Soviet Russia. It was imposed on them by their military. They didn’t vote that stuff in. Who would do that?
The bad guys, of course. Whoever those might be. We’ll let you know. “They” would vote for oppression. You would never vote for something like that. Never! But “they” are crazy. “They” are nightmares. “They” cast giant shadows on the wall.
National Health Care vs. Rule by monsters
Socialism is an economic system. Dictatorship is a … I hate to call it a method of governing. Let’s say it’s a style of ruling.
What the USA has is a government. What North Korea has is a ruler.
All societies do best when they are governed. If that idea makes you shiver. Get back in touch when you find e-coli in your salad.
When people think of government they think Medicare, Social Security, military, road repair, foreign aid … anything that makes headlines. But the vast amount of government is behind the scenes, out of sight.
If that gives you a headache, feel free to take a couple of Tylenol. The government has invisibly made sure the tablets contain everything listed on the label and nothing else.
In a country that is merely ruled and not governed, you don’t get something as frivolous as a Food and Drug Administration. Or an electrical grid.
When societies have negotiated rules over centuries and generations, that society feels free. There will be rules — you must stop at stop signs — and the rules do put a limitation on your freedom — you can’t just zoom through the intersection. But you are also free to be t-boned in that intersection and that will leave you most definitely unfree. The government silently funds studies on how to make roads, streets, and highways safer and builds roads, streets, and highways based on that information. And that stuff ain’t free. But people like being alive and uncrippled so they are pretty happy to chip in a buck or two.
You stop at the intersections where the government tells you to. It’s a small price to pay to arrive safely home and enjoy dinner without worrying about the food being adulterated or contaminated. You gave some of your earnings to pay for all that, and it’s nice to eat a big salad without cow poop.
Freedom!
Societies that are governed instead of ruled, feel freer because they are — even if there are lots of rules to follow, taxes to pay, and laws to abide by.
Even so, some of those rules are going to feel oppressive. That’s because the rules of society are negotiated which means parts of every society end up with some rules they don’t like. Negotiation means that you usually get less than you wanted, but more than you thought you would.
Not getting everything you want is a pain, but we have to live in the same world together and that’s the best we’ve come up with so far.
We have to live in each other’s world
One side could wipe the other out. That’s been tried several times. It doesn’t end well.
One side could find a way to force the other side to behave. But does anyone want to live in a world where half of us have a gun in our face? I don’t. It sounds too much like Soviet Russia.
“Liberal” is a word related to “liberty” and “liberation.” “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood (or, as I like to think of it, Humanity).” Its message is anti-aristocracy, anti-big-money, and anti-top-down control.
Oddly, I think a lot of Trump voters hold these values dear. Both sides of “the divide” want freedom, equality, and common human dignity. There are wide-open fields where we can negotiate how to achieve those goals for as many people as possible.
Examples? Maybe keep the restrictions on dangerous drugs but loosen restrictions on all drugs that have no known lethal dose? How about we don’t confiscate all guns but require liability insurance to mitigate their harm? All freedoms come with responsibilities.
Into the valley of discussion rode the two great opposing armies.
Yes, I admit it, I’m a Tolkein fan.
For the love of Thanksgiving Dinner and all that’s holy, we need to learn the art of negotiation. We can’t do that by shouting at each other. We all want freedom. We all want to be treated equally and fairly. We will never achieve those first two goals without the third — respect for shared humanity.
We are never going to be a socialist nation!
Sorry, we already are. We decided to do that 80 years ago. We. Not “they.” Are we now, or will we ever be the Soviet Union?
No.
We have tasted freedom and we will never give it up.