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. [1]
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. [2]
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. [3]
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. [4]
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. [5] 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. [6] 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.
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