Socialism is being accepted in America. Slowly but surely it is coming about. It has slowed a little since the ‘80s, but it is gradually enveloping America.
In the United States, we prefer the gradualist (or evolutionary) socialism. This is opposed to the revolutionary socialism espoused by Karl Marx, also known as communism. Communism declares that there is a huge gap between the rich capitalists and the poor workers, and therefore the poor workers need to rise up against the capitalists and take over the economy, thereby equalizing wages for all and ushering in a worker’s paradise. They need to abolish government in one fell swoop and have the collective decide things (for some of the ideology behind socialism in general, read the beginning of my post on labor unions).
Gradual socialism on the other hand, while accepting the basic premises and views of revolutionary socialism, prefers to bring about the change in a different way. This form says that government should be used to gradually bring down capitalism by the use of laws, labor unions, court decisions, etc. The government should gradually get rid of private property, take over certain services and industries, and increase taxes so that eventually the middle class will be destroyed, the rich brought down, and everyone will be poor together.
Essentially, you have two different methods of accomplishing the same thing.
The Fabian Society in Britain is a prime example of this latter type of socialism. You can see the results in the modern-day UK. I saw an Englishman’s comment on a blog recently, talking about how you have to have a TV license from the government in England if you want to watch TV or video feeds on the Internet. Just imagine: All of us living in the good ‘ole USA are watching TV freely and without government harassment, while our fellow men in Britain are paying the government for the privilege to watch the BBC (which itself has a monopoly on TV and radio programming in the UK).
In the United States, utopians and muckrakers had much influence on convincing the American mind that there were horrible evils being perpetrated by the big companies on the people. Americans began little by little to accept the basic premises of socialism, while rejecting the results. They began to view government intervention as the only way to solve problems in society. While they hated and rejected anything that actually called itself socialism, they accepted programs that advanced the socialist agenda. That’s why you won’t find anyone today who calls himself or his program socialist. They know that they won’t be able to pass it, so they put it under the guise of “democracy” or “nationalism” or some other innocent-sounding word.
The gradualist socialism was carried out by the Populists, Progressive Republicans, and Democrats, consecutively. The Democratic Party today is the main driving force behind many socialist programs. Though now Republicans are being drawn in as well. We need to stop the gradual overtaking of our country by socialism.
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