Socialism in the US
AGAINST SOCIALISM
By: Trinity Quiles
Socialism is an idea of governing in which there is intended to be equal opportunity for all people. And while on paper it sounds almost utopian, it, like any form of government, is not without its flaws–this is especially so for socialism in particular. The nation of America would ultimately be better off not converting to an entirely socialist government.
As of right now, America is functioning under a capitalist system. Capitalism prioritizes work ethic–the output of production directly correlates to the income of money. Under a capitalist society, people can own private poverty, businesses, and supplies. Socialism makes it so that there is no private property, but instead allows free reign, meaning everyone has control over the market rather than set company or individual. While this sounds very appealing, the consequences of these circumstances run much deeper. When building a society that highly values equality over work output, you build a world in which effort and reward are imbalanced. Those who put in less work towards their jobs are given the same paycheck as those who break their backs day in and day out working that exact same job. Socialism does not measure the individual, nor does it acknowledge their worth. Instead, it focuses on idealizing numbers and prospects, choosing to remain ignorant to the imbalance presented in the workplace and codependency on the government.
Many call for socialism, expecting it to be the miracle that fixes economic inequality. The fatal flaw, however, is that socialism is not a persevering type of system. It begins with a bang, giving good, equal distribution to the public. However, as time goes on, the lack of incentive and motivation becomes a huge issue, as previously elaborated on by Professor Osterfeld (Osterfeld, 1986). Capitalism functions because people have something to work towards—profit. Socialism does sway with this concept, removing the extrinsic motivation that drives so many workers and manufacturers. This in turn only results in a slow and streaky decline, where the reality of the social climate becomes apparent and people are less inclined to put in the work when they aren’t gaining the benefits they would be under capitalism. Not to mention, the goods that were being regularly distributed by workers and bought by consumers are now out of their hands.
To have the market be owned by the community rather than private owners means putting it in the hands of the government. This means that instead of going off of what is generating profit—a direct correlation to what people will and won’t buy—they will be the ones determining whether products are “necessary” or not. To put that type of decision making in the hands of the government, and to have our nation rely on their call for what is being distributed into the market, is simply too much power being handed over. While socialism is advertised as a sort of “power to the people” economic system, is that truly so?
Socialism is idealized because, yes, it does sound nice. However, that is as far as it can go—socialism, when put into action, simply cannot hold a nation together. The reason there are so many advocates for socialism is because they feel as though it has not been exercised enough, thus not giving it room to show it’s potential or merits. But the real reason for this is not unwillingness to try something new, it’s the acknowledgement that it just doesn’t work. A reflective article (Edwards, 2019) explains why very well; after world war 2, several nations—Israel, India, and the United Kingdom—made an attempt at a socialist government. Of course, it worked at first. However, eventually the system caught up to them, and quits were not being met, and the government just wasn’t able to keep up. Socialism, at its core, relies on pipe dreams and wishful thinking. It doesn’t work because it cannot function in our reality, which the government just cannot handle all on its own. As observed by Tori K. Smith, many people do not have a proper grasp on socialism, and instead buy into the flashy selling points that eventually fall in on themselves (Smith, 2021).
However, the hopes for a better nation are completely valid. This is why, instead of socialism, we should turn to reforming the capitalist system instead. It keeps us afloat, however it is not without its faults. Opening up to socialism would only poke larger holes in the problems we are already facing. We need to work on the system already in place, strengthen it, and refine it, so we can come closer to a nation that serves all of the American people fairly.
FOR SOCIALISM
By: Daunte Cole
The practice/implementation of socialism into the current United States’ position of distress and Democratic Capitalism would improve the overall well-being of the United States. This would be accomplished through the lack of private companies in terms of regulation control, a greater banding together of a people in order to solve a common cause and or threat, as well as reducing the overall poverty rates within America which have been a major concern in terms of people below the middle-class line equalizing the playing field pushing America further into the future of greater change.
First, the definition of socialism is “a social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. ”( Britannica 2018) These aforementioned services are actually being run by the people for the people, effectively allowing the citizens access to all means of production. With this established, the central point of socialism is the people working together to better the society together and this would bond people together in ways you wouldn’t think of. A common argument against socialism is that due to the way socialism is theoretically structured it would discourage work across the workforce due to the basic needs being provided. This is typically due to the overlooking of the different forms of socialism.
Countries such as Brazil and the UK are democratic socialist countries which mean there are basic needs provided by the government but the people ultimately have to decide through formal debate and vote the changes that are needed for essential change and development of their nation as a whole. Getting paid works in a similar way to Capitalism in current America except basic needs are provided. The more work you do, the more you get paid put simply and due to the basic needs being provided, the aforementioned UK has seen huge drops in poverty rates overall in their country.
Within the {Economic Principles of Socialism and Capitalism for Addressing Poverty] (by Matthew Kaiser) who’s been within the field of politics for a long while quoted the World Bank while referring to Capitalism and Socialism,”The extreme poverty rate fell from more than 50% to about 30%. Child mortality declined from nearly 14% to 7%.” This in turn shows the great attributes that Socialism has for many within its society. Capitalism, although seems to provide a more hands-off approach to society and how people gain their wealth which in hindsight seems fairly good and appealing to many but this lacks fairness in terms of methods of wealth. The main issue is trusts which are big businesses buying other big companies and smaller companies under them in order to run their markets gaining wealth while decimating the competition.
A great example of this type of behavior was during the Gilded Age as people such as Carnegie, and Rockefeller had trusts on the railroads and oil companies. This not only made them rich but it brought a lack of competition which helps push an economy of that level forward as well as provide the public with options. This lack of options affects the productivity of smaller businesses effectively making the country mainly rely on one company, so if it goes under it would bring the economy with them as well. This also proceeded to have workers treated terribly in these factories as overall the rules were pretty relaxed in a laze-faire democratic society thus at the time allowing long hours and little pay pushing wealth forward but at the same time killing workers and leaving them still underpaid in the inflating economy. We’ve seen such issues in modern-day society as well with a recent action of Microsoft attempting to buy Blizzard Entertainment as well as Activision with both companies being fairly big in the gaming and tech department effectively allowing Microsoft to grow in power and influence despite the big pool of money and influence it already achieved running a mass operating system called windows being 29.53%(gs.statcounter.com/2022) in use across all of America.
Overall, The current Capitalistic practice in America seems to provide adequate results in terms of a sustainable way of living for those of a higher class and influence but the application of socialism not only would even the playing field but everyone even those who are of a higher income still benefits via the system of work that would apply. The switch from present-day capitalism to a democratic socialistic economy must occur if we truly want to see a decline in poverty, better teamwork, and community effort, as well as fair regulation of an ever-developing world of technology and conflict.
