SOCIALISM AND THE GOP

 

This article was inspired by a Facebook post by former Republican Congressional Candidate Chris Dosev in which he laments the growing popularity of Socialism over Capitalism, especially among women. In this post he linked to an article from the Daily Mail with the headline “Majority of U.S. women aged 18-54 prefer socialism over capitalism.” Now first off, you should probably be suspicious of a sensational headline from a tabloid website, but without getting into the content of this article, I do want to address the sentiment it’s expressing. There was a time when self-identifying as a socialist would cause you to be ostracized from most of society but there has been a real shift in American society in recent years. When I stated I was a capitalist during last year’s campaign I got the stink-eye from a lot of people on the left. So, in this article I want discuss the relationship between socialism/communism and capitalism. 

Part of the problem is the term socialism doesn’t really have a well-defined definition, it can mean a lot of different things to different people. Further confusing the issue is the term communism which at times has been used interchangeably with socialism. For the purposes of this article I’ll define socialism as a system in which the government takes control of the economy for the benefit of the society rather than relying on market forces. Capitalism is essentially the opposite, when the government takes a hands-off approach to the economy and lets market forces self-regulate the economy. 

This socialist model is what we usually associate with the former Soviet Union, North Korea and Venezuela and looking at those examples it’s not difficult to spot a trend. From an economic perspective, a socialist economy is incapable of adequately adapting to all the needs of a large complex economy. Shortages, corruption and a lack of innovation are the hallmarks of a socialist economy. This system also requires a massive government system that inevitably leads to a totalitarian state and a lack of civil liberties and repression of any dissenting voices. 

The problems with the Soviet model of socialism are well documented and I doubt too many people would argue for such a system in America. However the opposite, Capitalism in its pure form, isn’t really an improvement. In theory markets are a self-regulating entity. If a company refuses to pay a living wage the labor will go to a different company that will pay better wages. If a company refuses to hire people of a certain ethnic or religious group then those people will work elsewhere or create their own businesses and in the end the company that refuses to hire the best workers based on ethnic, religious or other biases will become less competitive in the long run. Similarly, workers will seek out employers with safer working conditions and better benefits. 

The problem with this scenario is it’s a utopian fantasy not grounded in reality. Capitalism and socialism are equally utopian delusions that have repeatedly failed in the real world. In capitalism business interests routinely find it more profitable to collude with competitors to keep wages and benefits down. In most scenarios there are more workers than jobs so employers can pit workers against one another to see who will work for the least money. In labor disputes, a corporation may have to take a small hit on dividends if they have difficulty finding workers. Workers don’t eat if they can’t find a job. Corporations and large businesses nearly always have the advantage in disputes with workers. So, the workers can just go start their own businesses, right? Large corporations have a long history of driving smaller competition out of businesses. They can pressure suppliers to put small businesses at a disadvantage. They can undercut the small businesses prices by operating at a loss temporarily until the new competition is driven under. 

Capitalism, like socialism, is also prone to corruption. Under this system large corporations can accumulate massive fortunes which allow them to manipulate politicians to enact laws that benefit their interest and stifle competition. It’s a myth that most capitalists want open and free markets, they want to control the markets. 

This is essentially the system we had in the early days of the industrial revolution in the 1800s. Children working in dangerous factories, dangerous products being put on the market, and the constant fear that an on-the-job injury could lead to life as a pauper. The proprietors of a company town could control every aspect of their workers' lives and corporate backed political machines made sure all the right palms were greased to make sure nothing interfered with profits. 

This started to change in the early 20 century with the rise of various communist and socialist movements around the globe in response to the excesses of capitalism. Even the normally conservative American Midwest gave rise to the populist movement in response to unregulated banks using unfair business practices to take farmer’s lands. That’s when nearly all the world's industrialized democracies had their, you got socialism in my capitalism, no you got capitalism in my socialism moment. Seeing the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, many in the west realized that voluntarily adopting some of the principles of socialism in a capitalist economy could prevent the spread of Soviet style governments in the West. This opened the door to government initiatives such as Social Security, unemployment insurance, worker safety, union protections and civil rights laws. 

These government regulations and the social safety net weren’t passed because of grand liberal conspiracy, the public demanded them after living through the horrors of unregulated capitalism. Over the course of the 20 century every industrialized democracy on earth adopted an economic system based on capitalism but with the government instituting laws and regulations to insure open markets and protections for both consumers and workers. Exactly where to draw that line between capitalism and socialism varies from country to country and can be debated, but the vast majority of people want an economy based on this basic principle.

Capitalism works when the government sets the rules for everyone to play by and acts as the referee to make sure the rules are being followed. The purpose of government is to promote the welfare of the public, open markets are a means to that end, but not the goal in itself. This is where the Republicans are failing by trying to make it a choice between capitalism and socialism when in reality it’s both at the same time. Of course, this system isn’t perfect either. Individuals can still amass great fortunes allowing them to exert undue influence over the government and excessive regulations can stifle innovation, but on the whole the presence of both capitalistic and socialistic principles in the economy tend to keep the worst excesses in check. By promoting this false choice, the Republicans are making socialism look desirable in comparison to capitalism. Republicans would be wise to drop all this demonizing of socialism and advocate for moving the capitalism-socialism divide where they want it instead of promoting their utopian fantasy of pure capitalism.