As Joan Rivers used to say,
“Can we talk?” The stuff that passes for
news these days is biased, whether the source is conservative or liberal. The facts get “spun,” and things are
presented is a way that tries prove the point the various news media want to
make. The same thing is true in American
politics.
It gets so confused that many
people do not know what to believe. The
liberals call the conservatives “Fascists.”
The conservatives call the liberals “Communists.” Each side denies it. Each side, however, continues to call their
opponents liars, and name-calling is rampant.
We hear the term “gaslighting”
a lot these days. When terms become popular, they tend to lose their original
meaning and become generalized. Gaslighting is not persuasion, argument, or
convincing others through logic. It is an insidious form of manipulation. With
gaslighting, people are manipulated into doing what somebody else wants. They
are led to doubt their beliefs, the facts, their judgment, even their very
selves and their motives. Their fears are used to cause them to do the bidding
of the other. Gaslighting is destructive for those reasons. Nevertheless, we
see it in interpersonal relationships, news broadcasting, politics, and even
religion. Persuasion respects the other person. Gaslighting is used to control
others by destroying their confidence in themselves.
In the interest of sanity, let’s
attempt to clarify terms. The public
discourse will no doubt remain confusing, but it is hoped that those who read
this may be helped to sort it out. In
the interest of brevity, we will summarize and simplify. Please allow some degree of latitude in the
interest of conciseness.
Ideas about how to organize
societies, economies, and government are often talked about in terms of an “ism.” Each “ism” is by its very nature opposed to
the others. Ideally, differences can be
resolved by debate, and the “ism” with the best arguments will win in free and
fair elections and the decisions of duly elected officials. Unfortunately, that
is not always the case. If nothing else,
let’s all try to be tolerant and non-violent.
The college professors often
tell their students that they will fail a paper that is overly reliant on one
source of information. However, I have used
https://www.britannica.com/ in order to try to give each “ism” equal treatment.
Socialism
Socialism is characterized by
public ownership of property and the means of production and distribution of
goods and services. Innovation and work
are accomplished collectively, rather than by individual effort. Socialists believe that those who participate
in the production and distribution of goods and services are, therefore,
entitled to an equitable share of the economic benefit of their labor. Socialists condemn the profit motive as
greed, and they say that capitalism allows the rich to oppress the poor in
order to earn bigger profits.
Paraphrased, the following
are provided as examples of the socialist worldview:
When he was President, Barack
Obama drew a lot of criticism for saying that nobody ever built a business on
their own. During the Covid-19 pandemic,
former Vice President Kamala Harris criticized churches because they were not
willing to stop holding public gatherings … “for the good of the “collective.” For years it has been widely taught in US
public schools, colleges, and universities that the profit motive was greedy
and self-serving. Socialism has morphed
into several subgroups.
Social Democrats
Social Democracy generally
works to replace capitalism by peaceful, evolutionary, democratic means. Some Social Democrats have favored government
regulation of private enterprise as opposed to replacing capitalism entirely. Social Democracy incorporates what are
commonly referred to as Marxist-Leninist ideas, but it rejects violent
revolution and the aggregation of power by totalitarian forms of government. Social Democrats generally advocate that the
means of production be held by the many rather than concentrated in the hands
of the few, and they espouse government run social welfare programs that
“redistribute” wealth.
Democratic Socialists
Democratic Socialists accept revolution
as a means of socio-economic change. They favor replacing capitalism entirely,
rather than improving it by regulation. Democratic Socialists prefer a decentralized
economy, and they reject centrally managed economies. They oppose control by a government of party
elites who tend to replace private ownership of property by seizing control of
the means of production for themselves.
Democratic socialists favor worker control of the means of production
and distribution, and usually favor market-driven economies. Like social democrats, democratic socialists
want government run social welfare programs as a means of redistributing wealth. Social Democracy and Democratic Socialism are
easily confused, and have often been transposed in the past. Although their goals are similar, they differ
primarily in the means to achieve those ends.
Communism
Pure Communism is a type of
Socialism, but it differs from the others in significant ways. Communism follows the socio-economic
doctrines of Marxism more closely than other forms of Socialism, and advocates
for violent revolution as a means of replacing Capitalism. Pure Communism replaces private property
ownership with public, and it replaces the private management of production and
distribution with communal management by worker’s collectives. Communism embraces the Marxist view that
wealth should transfer “From each according to their ability, to each according
to their needs.”
To meet the needs of the
people, Communist societies have tried to implement centrally managed economies. Centrally managed economies differ from Capitalist
economies, which are market driven based on demand. Centrally managed economies have failed in
Russia, China, and Vietnam. China and Vietnam are ruled by Communists but have adopted
market driven economies.
The governance of Communist
nations has been by one-party rule, and they have been authoritarian and
oppressive. The means of production and distribution have initially been centrally
managed by the government.
Today, the Democratic party
has been coopted by radicals who are changing it from Classical Liberalism into a Socialist
political movement. Those radicals tend
to call themselves Democratic Socialists; although we can find that they often
espouse views that are more correctly ascribed to Social Democrats. So far, they have not advocated for violent
revolution, but they have been supportive of violent demonstrations. Accurately or inaccurately, the word
Communist has been tossed about to describe the most radical of the leaders of
the new Democratic Party. Please decide
for yourself if that is correct.
By contrast, American Conservatives
are almost always Capitalists, whether they are private or corporate owners of
the means of production, or they are workers.
Capitalism
A Capitalist economic system
is characterized by a free market economy with limited government involvement. The means of production and distribution are
privately owned, either by individuals or stockholders. A portion of profit is reinvested to increase
productive capacity, or capital is raised by selling stocks. Companies may be organized as corporations,
which then become legal entities. In
some cases, workers’ benefits include stocks (shares) in the company, or the
worker-shareholders may actually own the company; although those companies are
usually governed by a Board of Directors and a management team appointed by the
Board.
In Western societies
Capitalists favor elected, representative forms of government. The exportation of American Capitalism to
developing nations has raised the standard of living of millions of people.
During the industrial
revolution, and the exportation of Capitalism to developing nations, workers
were often exploited. However, such exploitation has been reduced by
organized labor and government intervention.
Worker exploitation remains one of the Socialist arguments against
Capitalism.
American Capitalists and other
Conservatives believe that social programs should be designed to provide a
temporary safety net to help the poor until they can obtain gainful employment;
and to provide financial support for elderly and disabled persons. They are to fulfill society’s obligation to
care for the poor – not to redistribute wealth.
Socialist criticism sometimes
involves calling Conservatives Fascists.
That is almost always a misnomer.
Fascism
Fascism is characterized by a
strong, charismatic leader and a ruling elite who galvanize popular support
around nationalism, militarism, opposition to liberalism (anti-communism), and
a general distain for deliberative, democratic process. As with Communism, Fascism strives for
one-party rule, and dissent and opposition are not tolerated.
Fascism is totalitarian, and it
organizes society to serve the interests of the state. Individual interests are, therefore,
subordinate to the interests of the nation state. Although
in Fascist economies the means of production and distribution are privately
owned, they are also subordinate to the interests of the state and subject to
government control.
It is usually unfair to label
Democrats as Communists or Republicans as Fascists. This kind of rhetoric is divisive. It is part of what is dividing Americans and
pitting them against each other. It is,
however, necessary for voters to inform themselves. In November, they will often have to choose
whether they want to be represented by Socialists or Conservatives.
Conservatives like to point
out that Socialism has always failed.
Liberals counter by saying that the Social Democratic countries in
Europe have been successful.
Conservatives answer that those European nations have market driven
economies. They insist that the Europeans have starved their ability to
defend themselves by spending their defense money on social programs, and that
they still need to struggle to keep from going broke. “Und so weiter.”
The November midterm elections will be here before we
know it. Regardless of our political
beliefs, all eligible voters are encouraged to get out and vote. That goes double if you are a Conservative.
Before the elections arrive, every voter needs to examine
the salient issues and make a conscious choice about the direction we want the
USA to take regarding those issues. To
that end, Lamp in a Corner will post on the issues, and provide a
reasoned argument for the direction that would best serve the American
people. Unapologetically, the goal will
be to motivate Republicans, other conservatives, and Independents to get out
and vote.
Please vote for Conservatives who favor a Capitalist
economy and retaining our Constitutional Republic as they always have been. They have served us well, and do not need to
be remade into a utopian, Socialist pipe dream.
