Socialism by Kaden Hunt

\The Rise of Socialism & the Assimilation of Traditional Values in America

One of the allures of emigrating to the United States is the promise of the American dream: the opportunity to create your own wealth and live freely. However, that dream is being threatened by a dangerous political movement sweeping the young people of the United States: socialism. Socialism is an economic and political philosophy that advocates for a powerful, centralized government that controls the means of production and distribution of wealth (Amadeo). This movement has been perpetuated by the gradual shift of young Americans, or “millennials”, from traditional Judeo-Christian values to secularism (Blake). These two social epidemics have acted in conjunction with each other to cause the dramatic shift in American politics and social philosophy that we are witnessing today.

An epidemic is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary an outbreak or product of sudden rapid spread, growth, or development (Merriam-Webster). Socialism, like an epidemic, is a fairly new political philosophy that is growing steadily throughout the United States, as well as the rest of the world. One of the first examples of modern socialism was the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx. This document advocated for the middle and lower class laborers to rise up in a violent revolution to seize power from the ruling class. Once the revolution had taken place, the goal of Communism was to establish a classless, utopian society using the vehicle of socialism. Marx’s goals were to use the vehicle of socialism to destroy capitalism, abolish private property, and create a society in which all people are equal in wealth and social status (Marx & Engels). Modern socialism pushes for increased government control of the means of production and heavy taxation (Amadeo). More and more Americans are embracing socialist policies to solve important political issues in the United States, such as climate change, healthcare, and gun control. According to a poll taken by the Washington Post, 37% of Americans today view socialism positively, compared to 14% in a Time magazine poll taken in 1974 (Blake). Socialism has progressed from being an extreme fringe political idea to a societal movement that has spread across the world.

There are many examples of socialism in the real world, as it has been implemented in several countries throughout the past century. The most famous of these is most likely the Soviet Union, the nation composed of Russian and many of the small Eastern European countries surrounding it. The revolutionary Bolshevik party overthrew the existing Romanov monarchy in the October Revolution of 1917, beginning Communist rule in Russia. The leader of the Bolsheviks and the new Communist party, Vladimir Lenin, then ordered mass executions of loyalists, known as the Red Terror. Once the Communists had control of Russia itself, they began to expand their rule into neighboring countries, eventually establishing as many as fifteen “Soviet Socialist Republics”. However, the worst was yet to come. Lenin’s successor, Josef Stalin, is considered by many to be the most brutal dictator in all of history. Through extreme socialist policies, Stalin transformed the Soviet Union into a global military superpower at the expense of its own people, with the death toll reaching nearly a hundred million due to famine and executions. The Soviet government would take the food produced by massive state-run farms and ship it back to the mainland, not leaving enough food for the farmers themselves, causing the Soviet people to starve to death. Through socialism, the Soviet Union was able to systematically eliminate millions of people in the name of equality until its collapse in 1991 (History.com). An example of socialism in the twenty first century is the current government in Venezuela. Dictator Nicolas Maduro has used socialism to run Venezuela into the ground. The country is currently plagued with extreme inflation, food shortage, and more recently a countrywide power blackout. Many people are unable to access their money or even receive medical care due to the power shortages. Maduro has continued to make false accusations, blaming the United States government for problems clearly caused by a failing socialist regime (Toro). Even in the United States, a shining example of the success of personal and economic freedom, socialism is beginning to invade our society. Politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, self proclaimed “democratic socialists”, advocate for increased taxation on the wealthy, universal healthcare, and rigorous gun control. Recently, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez submitted a bill to Congress called the “Green New Deal”, which includes $4.6 trillion in government spending to upgrade every building in America to clean energy and eliminate air travel in favor of electric bullet trains. Although the bill was not passed, it clearly shows that the philosophy of socialism is present and growing within the United States government (Blake).

When socialism is implemented, the end result stands in stark contrast to the society we see in America today. In true socialism, many individual freedoms are stripped away. Unlike capitalism, the economic system currently in place in the United States, your economic freedom is not determined by the free market. The government assigns you a job, pays you what they believe you deserve, and take whatever they want from you in the form of heavy taxation. The level of individual freedom is completely determined by the federal government, essentially meaning you have no real freedom at all. Socialism represses the human desire to be competitive and make something of yourself, meaning socialist countries as a whole have problems progressing economically and technologically, since there is no private sector to develop and pursue new ideas (Amadeo). The power that socialist governments wield over their nations is dangerous since humans with too much power are prone to becoming tyrannical, such as in Russia, China, and Cuba. According to Professor Mark Kramer of Harvard University, the number of unnatural deaths in communist/socialist countries is “upwards of 80 million”. This number includes genocides, famines, executions, and deportations (Tupy). You might be wondering “Why didn’t the people fight back?”. Since socialist governments limit individual freedom, one of the first rights to be taken away from the people of these countries was the right to bear arms, ensuring that there would be no resistance to the federal government’s perversion of their lives (Hoffman). As you can see, socialist governments strips humans of their fundamental rights using the power given to them by the people themselves. Ironic, isn’t it?

In order to combat socialism, the United States stick to the current economic/cultural system or find a new one. To many, the solution to socialism is clear: capitalism. Developed largely by economist Adam Smith, capitalism essentially advocates for a free market economy where all individuals have equal opportunity to make their own wealth. In capitalism, all individuals have the right to own private property and chase their economic goals to their heart’s desire, free from governmental interference, whose only job is to protect the individual’s rights. According to Smith, capitalism is “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty” (Hessen.) In the modern world, various forms of capitalism have been utilized by many countries around the globe in order to create new wealth, even countries that were formerly socialist, such as China. Before 1978, China was a strict Communist state led by Mao Zedong, causing most businesses in the country to be state-owned. However, in 1978, a new president came into power: Deng Xiaoping. In order to stimulate economic growth, he turned towards a regulated form of capitalism called state capitalism. Slowly, the Chinese government began to sell business firms back to investors and allow more private enterprise. Today, more than 70% of business firms in China are owned by the private sector. Additionally, GDP growth from 1997-2007 averaged 10% annually. When President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he began to lean towards traditional Communism and assume more state control of the financial market. Since then, GDP growth has shrunk to 6% annually, and is predicted to eventually fall to nearly 2%. This evidence suggests that when China introduced even a lesser form of true capitalism into their economy, it grew substantially. Inversely, when they attempted to bring more of the financial market under the control of the federal government, economic growth slowed significantly (Samuelson). Although capitalism has its flaws, history suggests that when the free market is left to operate by itself with minimal government interference, no matter how volatile, economies are able to grow and nations are able to develop new technologies and products as new, more productive businesses take over for the failing ones. It is the natural order of the world: the strongest survive. The solution for the sociological effects of socialism, however, is not as simple as the economic solution. The philosophy that most often accompanies socialism, secularism, is an atheistic and materialistic worldview that advocates for a public society free from the influence of religion. Secularism believes that if humanity would abandon its fascination with religion, our society would be able to advance to a higher state, which is a movement called transhumanism (Noebel, 90). Since the start of the 20th century, secularism has become increasingly prevalent in America. Organized religion, most commonly Christianity, is frowned upon in most professional and official settings. Many individuals have attempted to label Christian values as discriminatory. An example of this is a 2018 court case in which a gay couple accused a bakery of discrimination after it refused to bake them a wedding cake because of their Christian beliefs. This case made it all the way to the Supreme court, where the judges ruled in favor of the bakery’s freedom of religion. Although all citizens of the United States have many rights and freedoms protected by the Constitution, such as homosexuality and gay marriage, the Supreme Court ruled that it would be an infringement of the owner of the bakery’s freedom of religion to force them to bake a cake for a gay couple (Liptak). This court case is a prime example of secular philosophy attempting to discredit and force religion into submission. However, the solution to this philosophy has actually existed since the beginning of our great nation. The First Amendment to our Constitution, included in the Bill of Rights, states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (Bill of Rights). This means that no matter what, the federal government will never be able to force you to abandon your religion or your beliefs. Our founding fathers anticipated that one day, our rights could possibly be infringed on. They were wise to include the Bill of Rights to protect the American people from threats such as secularism and socialism.

Albert Camus had a close relationship with socialism, as it is the economic philosophy of the Communist party from which he was expelled from in the 1930’s. Camus disagreed with the Communists, saying that instead of actually taking the time to ponder our existence and the meaning of life, they pursued the dream of a utopian society in order to combat the absurdity of the world around them. The utopian future, Camus said, was a waste of time. He believed that life should be lived in the present day instead of focusing on what is to come. Since he subscribed to the philosophy of nihilism, which asserts that life has no meaning or purpose, it is believable that Camus would be opposed to the dream of a working-class revolution and a perfect world (Aronson).

Once, immigrants viewed the United States as the promised land; they dreamed of a land of freedom and opportunity where anything could happen and their fantasies could become realities. Now, because of the threat of socialism, this dream is becoming a nightmare. With heavy taxation, increased federal intervention in the free market, and the rise of secularism, American society is transforming from a land of hope and promise to a socialist institution that oppresses its inhabitants, much like those in Camus’ writings. However, if we stick to the traditional values of capitalism and our Constitution, we can avoid the dreadful fate that awaits nations that fail to stop the epidemic of socialism before it is too late.

Works Cited

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Editors, History.com. “Soviet Union.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 1 Sept. 2017, www.history.com/topics/russia/history-of-the-soviet-union

Engrossed Bill of Rights, September 25, 1789; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

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Liptak, Adam. “In Narrow Decision, Supreme Court Sides With Baker Who Turned Away Gay Couple.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/supreme-court-sides-with-baker-who-turned-away-gay-couple.html.

Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. “The Communist Manifesto.” Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marxist Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/.

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Toro, Francisco. “Venezuela Is Truly on the Verge of Collapse.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 10 Mar. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/10/venezuela-is-truly-verge-collapse/?utm_term=.64dd89efbc98

Tupy, Marian L., and Richmond Times-Dispatch. “100 Years of Communism: Death and Deprivation.” Cato Institute, 28 Oct. 2017, www.cato.org/publications/commentary/100-years-communism-death-deprivation.