Did you know there are socialists in the Midwest?
Americans are used to the country’s vast rural hinterlands being depicted as Trump Territory — and variants on socialism attributed to East Coast intellectuals and pointy-headed Vermonters. But the socialist movement has deep historical roots in “flyover country”: In the early 20th century, the tiny town of Girard, Kansas was a hub of American socialism, as was Madison, Wisconsin. These days, as The Atlantic outlines, a growing number of young adults in Iowa are at the forefront of the movement.
It’s difficult to discuss socialism these days without acknowledging that its definition varies depending on who you’re asking. For Republicans, socialism is often an all-purpose slur used to describe relatively mild ideas like progressive taxation and Medicare, while the rest of the country can use it as a catch-all term for a whole spectrum of ideas and approaches left of “expanding the safety net a little bit.” Labeling an idea “democratic socialism” offers a bit more clarity, but only barely.
But socialists, self-described or otherwise, do seem to agree on one thing, as 27-year-old Iowan Casey Erixon told The Atlantic: “There is a growing sense that the system is broken.”
The 2020 presidential election may well end up being a referendum on socialism. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is looking to make another strong run in the Democratic primaries, and ideas like Medicare-for-all are being bandied about even among more moderate candidates. President Trump, meanwhile, started 2019 with a declaration at the State of the Union that “we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”
Whether that remains true, though, depends in part on the health of capitalism — and the health of the middle class in this capitalist country. The question, then, is whether or not capitalism seems to be improving American lives. If so, it’ll remain dominant. If not, alternatives will look increasingly attractive. Here are three pieces of evidence that the capitalist system in America is, indeed, broken:
1. Leaders are paving the way for a second massive economic crisis within a generation.
Regulators are starting to ease the rules put in place after the economic meltdown that led to the Great Recession a decade ago. The Fed, for example, wants to loosen requirements for big banks to have plans in place to close in an emergency without requiring a government bailout. Congress and regulators are making it easier for those same banks to make the kinds of high-risk loans that led to the last economic disaster. The government last year rolled back the Dodd-Frank law that enshrined many economic protections into law.
2. It is becoming more and more difficult for the average American to live life sustainably.
Some of capitalism’s stoutest defenders attempt to spin its worst flaws as virtues. For example, America’s education system is set up in such a way that for many, getting an education means going deep into debt. But here is how one National Review writer mocked a young woman’s story about how she nearly avoided medical school because she wasn’t sure she could shoulder the cost:
The horrifying plight of med school grads in the US. A life of prosperity, respect, and help for your fellow man awaits. The humanity! https://t.co/cQNPshL5IR
— David French (@DavidAFrench) April 8, 2019
That’s astoundingly tone deaf, but not unusual: The free market’s biggest defenders are the same people trying to exacerbate its flaws by taking away ObamaCare’s insurance protections for patients with pre-existing conditions. And they’ve topped it off by giving out giant tax cuts to the rich, then turning around and saying America can’t afford even its existing safety net protections.
3. The party of capitalism put Donald Trump in the White House.
The face of the American Way these days isn’t an industrialist like Steve Jobs or somebody else who makes things that make lives better — it’s a man who inherited his wealth, blew much of it, oversaw numerous failed businesses, and still managed to fail his way upward into cultural superstardom.
Want socialism? Kick the grownups out of the White House and put in charge a walking, talking reminder that capitalism is often a rigged game.
At its best, capitalism can create broad wealth and a strong middle class. But capitalism in America is far from being its best. Instead, this system has let money, property, power, and opportunity accumulate mostly at the very top of the food chain.
So if socialism is finding a foothold in the Midwest, it’s not because effete coastal trendsetters are following the latest fad. Frustrated Americans everywhere are looking for an alternative to the fading status quo.
“3 reasons why socialism is gaining popularity in America”
because were surrounded by the stupid
Capitalism is not the answer, it is what ground us into a paste to start with allowing the elites to take over. But neither is communism the answer as it will do the same only for a different end, both capitalism and communism enslave the people in the end. The only solution is to wipe out both and put in a republic, an absolute bill of rights that absolutely gives power to the people but not over each other and powerful checks against government and those who accumulate vast wealth along with big business interests. It would also help to ban corporations.
It make sense people are screaming for socialism because that is how things have been set up, allow the capitalists to run us into the ground… Then pass the baton to the socialists so they can finish the job. They are working together against us in one big game where only they can win if you play either side. Only one solution remains to us and that is to exterminate both and get back to just living without being told what to do and how to do it.
Capitalism and socialism are poison. Maybe one day we will evolve beyond the need for money or anything that we currently know but that aint happening today nor tomorrow. The best we can do is rip these two damned monkeys off our backs and gun them down.
I agree with you 110%.
We were guaranteed a Republic with an emphasis on the rights of the individual. But that document was deliberately flawed for the purpose of duplicity against what the aristocracy of the time considered to be their commoners.
We were to have a free enterprise system and a debt free currency provided by our bitches called public servants. Gold and silver.
The system was designed to fail and the Anti-Federalists saw it clear. The Bill of Rights was put in place to assure that the people maintain the absolute jurisdictional authority over the united States of the Americas.
A couple of depressions and then the goodies heaped on the people after the second world war, and government became a wonderful thing. Our grandfathers and fathers sold our freedom for a penance and accepted debt as a way of life, not even understanding that they were subjugated. They could make a lot of money if that was what they put their time to. They went for the mammon, failing to enforce the Bill of Rights, turning their children over to the government for a free government education. I guess no one would know the Bill of Rights unless someone took the time to teach them, and so who we are and what our authority is was lost in the shuffle, then we became subjects to a corporate monarchy ran by the progeny of those our great great great great grandfathers fought and died to un-subjugate themselves from and assure freedom to their progeny.
And you are absolutely correct. There is only one way to fix it.
Damn good comment vekar. The sooner the better Fkg tired of the bullshit. These billionaires have ruined us, stole from us. Capitalism is crooked as hell. How the hell does one man accumulate 120 billion dollars???? And not pay shit into taxes? Sure taxes are wrong as well, but when some pay and others dont, fk that!
Vekar, you need to comment more often. Having once been a socialist-communist, I hear you loud and clear!