Socialism

Practically speaking, I'm no socialist. Maybe it's my youthful angst, but I prefer small government, and I think that (limited) competition is a great motivator. That said, I've heard a lot about socialism lately. The flailing economy and a close presidential race has everyone posturing on solutions that will allow Americans to spend carelessly once again, and socialism is a recurring theme.

Socialism. Republicans use the term as a "truth-be-told" kind of slur ("Universal health care?' they say, "It's more like 'socialist' health care!") Democrats glorify the many socialisms of Europe as the models to which the U.S. should aspire, but rarely demonstrate an understanding of how different the European and American worldviews are (seriously, unless you've been treated in a European hospital, could you guys quit beginning every statement on the economy with, "You know in Europe..."? Please?).

For the most part, it was our Cold War stand against communism that soured us on socialism (no, the two are not the same thing- "socialism" isn't "communism lite"). We don't respond well to anything that seems to threaten our freedom and independence. But socialism is wildly misunderstood.

My time living in Europe was a learning experience; especially in terms of politics. Where else could one accidentally stumble upon a family-friendly public meeting of the National Anarchist Party? One thing I learned is that socialism isn't a political system, it's a worldview.

For my European friends, socialism means paying half of their income in taxes that fund public health care, schools, infrastructure, and social programs. Most of them aren't the least bit upset by that. They see taxes as their contrinution to society. There are some things, the reasoning goes, that are better left to an institution that doesn't have profit as it's bottom line.

Are there abuses? Sure. But socialist systems can still be democratic. If people don't like a government program, they can vote to stop it. If the system is being abused, controls are put in place.

For the most part, people are happy with national healthcare. The best health care system in the world is the French Social system. (By the way, in socialized medicine, it's doctors, not the government, that make medical decisions. Accountability is handled by a physician's peers.) Same thing with public schools, where both academic standards and test scores are higher than in the U.S.

Consider a complete privatization of every sector of American life: schools, fine. Military? Not so much. We don't mind paying tolls for smooth highways and bridges, but what about the street in front of your house? A private police force would have to either treat some people better than others or cover their uniforms in NASCAR-like sponser logos. In a completely free-market capitalist system, it isn't the majority who decides, it's the rich.

Comments

[Kari]

Thanks for this post. I don't consider myself a socialist (yet!), but it does bother me to hear people use 'socialism' as a bad word. There are some fantastic things about living in a socialist country - things we benefit from daily, such as developed public transport, low-cost access to healthcare and for my co-workers, very inexpensive childcare right across the street.

[caleb]

Kari,
Thanks for the great opinion post you did on the issue.

I agree about the benefits of public health. I just with we could avoid a knee-jerk reaction to things that we don't understand.

Everyone- be sure to read Kari's post about public healthcare in France!

[Rachel]

Well, I already commented on Kari's blog a couple of weeks ago about my take on French healthcare outside of the big cities.

I would just like to post it here, as well. If you live outside a big city in France, healthcare is aweful. I just returned from a week long stay in Paris because I could not even get a doctor to look at me in my particular corner of France. While there, I read in the Metro journal an article that stated the exact same thing. Only a few departments in France (the ones with the big cities) have good health care. Who cares if your healthcare is free if you have to take a 4 hour train ride to get it?

[Caleb]

Rachel,
I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with the French public health system. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I hope it will help add some balance to what's been written.

My intention with this post was not to praise socialized medicine as the perfect (or even best) option. I just wanted to give people, especially those who are vocal about their (uninformed opinions), something to think about. Americans tend to have a negative reaction to anything that's labeled "socialist."

Thanks again.

[The Minstrel]

You typically find that those who treat socialism as a bad word really don't know anything about it. I'm not saying that socialism is perfect, but I'm also not saying it's a bad thing either.