We Are All Socialists (And Capitalists too)

By JAMES EGGERT

“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society” — Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Let’s say that someone calls you a “socialist.” What exactly does this mean?

According to the dictionary, if you were a socialist, you would favor “the collective ownership of the nation’s productive resources.” This “full-blown” socialism would include taking over both large corporations as well as small businesses — all of them to be owned and operated by a central government, as opposed to capitalism’s competitive free market system emphasizing private ownership organized around the making of a profit.

Politicians are sometimes labeled “socialist,” implying that they are out to destroy our economic freedoms. But the truth is that I have never heard a politician advocate for “full-blown” socialism.

On the other hand, I believe that you and I would probably support what we might call “small-scale” socialism,” meaning that investments in public goods can be a desirable thing. These investments might include public schools, public roads and bridges, public parks, libraries, the court system, police, fire and so forth. These investments are made by government, because most people agree that they add to our quality of life but are generally too cumbersome, or too unprofitable for private enterprise to initiate and economically maintain.

One might point out that most past presidents put forth a variety of “socialist” legacy initiatives. Examples include Teddy Roosevelt’s push for national parks, while FDR presided over government programs that put people back to work during the Great Depression.

Eisenhower gave us the government financed Interstate Highway system, Kennedy proposed a new Peace Corps initiative and invested in NASA and the man on the moon program, President Johnson was responsible for the original Medicare bill, while Reagan vowed to preserve the “social safety net” for poor and elderly Americans.

Furthermore, Nixon proposed and helped pass the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. And little known to most Americans, President Jimmy Carter protected some 100 million acres with his Alaska National Conservation Act. Obama’s legacy was Obamacare and even Trump expanded military spending and invested in COVID vaccine research (“Operation Warp Speed”) — all government or socialist investments as was President Biden’s $550 billion infrastructure bill designed to rebuild roads and bridges and improve the nation’s mass transit system. Also consider Biden’s multi-billion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) designed to create financial incentives that help mitigate climate change and global warming.

Now what about you and me viewed from a local, small-scale level? Consider the following example — that is, taking the family (kids, grandma, and grandpa) to a local park and having a picnic. What part does socialism play in making their picnic possible?

First, the park itself is provided by the local government. The play equipment has been tested by a government agency for safety, as has their car (seat belts, child’s safety seats, etc.).

Next, the road they took to the park is publicly owned like the park; the food they eat is safer because of government food safety regulations, the municipal water supply has probably been recently tested by a government employee. The air is cleaner (Clean Air Act), the near-by river is also cleaner (Clean Water Act) because of accretionary benefits of government regulations over time.

Furthermore, grandma and grandpa are probably healthier and have a higher quality of life, because of government sponsored Social Security and Medicare.

On the other hand, we could cite many examples — from giant auto companies to your down-town pizzeria and farmers’ market — focusing on present-day capitalism in our lives as well. (Yes, we are all capitalists too!)

But socialism? I believe most Americans are indeed somewhere on the spectrum of approving of some public investments and some public programs. It does not, however, mean that we favor full-blown nation-wide industrial socialism.

Likewise, I think we can all agree that it is both inaccurate and grossly unfair to imply that our political opponent is somehow an “evil” socialist out to destroy our freedoms while taking over the economy.

James Eggert is an associate professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin Stout. A version of the above essay appears in his book “Meadowlark Economics—Collected Essays” (2024)

From The Progressive Populist, May 1, 2024

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