Why Do Americans Use Socialism As An Insult?

Introduction

I see this almost every day and it really does annoy me. people like Bernie Sanders and Robert Reich do it and it happened again today. Maybe it is my fault for following people on Social Media.

It is also prevalent in the UK and the ones who are demonised are the poor, immigrants and refugees.

The music I have included is Woody Guthrie's "Old Man Trump" by Ryan Harvey, I think you know why.

Why Socialism Should Not Be Used As An Insult

There are many economic and social systems and each one has some aim to benefit certain people. Pure Communism could be perfect but people do like to have their own stuff, and if everything is geared towards the benefit of the collective body then people just become a cog in a machine and eventually, we get the Stalinist Russian Communism which is effectively a Dictatorship as we see in Russia now, and the USA is moving towards.

Socialism /sō′shə-lĭz″əm/

Noun

Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.

The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which the means of production are collectively owned but a completely classless society has not yet been achieved.

A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor. In popular usage, the term is often employed to indicate any lawless, revolutionary social scheme. See communism, Fourierism, saint-simonianism, forms of socialism.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Socialism is essentially everyone working as a team, to build something that will benefit everyone. It has faults, as all systems have, but demonising it is usually done by people who want to see others fail and live in hardship.

Capitalism has some good points but depends on everyone having a disposable income, which ironically Socialism tries to ensure.

Very often the right-wing talks about standing up for yourself, standing on your own two feet but as soon as they fall on hard times they expect to be bailed out. Look at what happened with the banks after the financial crash that they caused, and privatised utilities in the UK who look for bailouts to pay dividends to their shareholders. This is not Socialism for the rich, it is thievery by the rich, nothing more than that.

Corporations are greedy because their only aim is to take everything for themselves.

A good friend of mine Chris Ball pointed out at a meal. If you were at a table with a corporation, it would just grab everything for itself whether it was hungry and needed food or not.

A corporation is defined as “a large company or group of companies authorized to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law.” and as such its only loyalty is to itself. It only exists to serve itself, nothing else matters.

Nick Hanauer is a very rich capitalist who is sensible and says that the lowest paid in society should have disposable income because if they do it makes him richer:

This is a great video warning to the super rich:

Conclusion

Socialism is not perfect but its aims are the best outcome for all, not just some dictatorial cabal, super-rich group, or corporation.

Try and watch the Nick Hanauer video, it is very informative, especially in the current climate.

Thank you so much for reading and hope you have found it interesting.