Successful Socialism
To hear the right-wing talk show hosts rant and rave, one of the two worst enemies of America is socialism (the other is “Islamo-Fascists”). But socialism is so deeply embedded into our American system these days that we would not be the great nation we are without socialism. Let me enumerate a few socialist government programs that at least 80% of the people (on average) would vote to support if the question were put to them:
- Anti-Trust Laws
- Social Security
- Unemployment Insurance
- Medicare (health care program for older people)
- Pell grants
- Student Loans
- Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Food and Drug Administration
- Building roads, bridges, sewers, water systems, and other infrastructure.
Socialism has its roots in the progressive movement of a century ago, and Republican President Teddy Roosevelt was a leader of that movement, closely associated with the passing of anti-trust laws to prevent the robber barons of commerce from creating vast business monopolies for the purpose of sucking as much profit out of the public as they could manage. His cousin, Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt, gave us numerous social programs, and the most popular is probably the Social Security System.
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