Yes, I'm a Democratic Socialist: Here's Why

Democratic Socialism and Marxist Communism are diametrically opposite of each other.  To be a Democratic Socialist is to be as far away from being a Marxist Communist as being a Christian is from being an Atheist.  

And I think that's a good comparison.  I majored in American history and government in college in order to teach it to high school students, and I've accumulated more than another Master's degree in continuing education since then.  I have also taught civics, American History and government at the AP and honors level, also taking multiple hours of coursework in order to do this.  Using these terms politically requires either being educated and informed, or being ignorant and stupid. So I have a difficult time maintaining my composure when I see ignorant and stupid people equate Democrats with Communists, and Democratic Socialism with Marxist Communism.  

And of course, I know that these are used as political buzzwords, to try and convince voters who don't really know the difference, not to vote for Democrats.  I will say this much.  If this argument has the ability to convince enough voters not to vote for Democrats, then there are far too many ignorant and stupid people in this country for its own good.  

Democratic Socialism Allows "We The People" to Determine How to Use Government to Serve Its People

Capitalism is about profit.  The free market, running on the law of supply and demand, follows the money wherever it goes.  It doesn't make judgements about the benefits provided by the money, and it doesn't direct resources to needs, because demand isn't always about people's needs.  

Capitalism is easily derailed by greed.  And left unregulated, it collapses in upon itself because money makes it possible to cheat, get outside the law of supply and demand, corner the market, create monopolies and ignore suffering.  We have a political party that is doing its dead level best to create a 
Christian nationalist oligarchy, based on faulty theories of racial inequality and on an economic version of Darwin's survival of the fittest theories, without a single principle of the actual Christian gospel being included.  

So it is that we have arrived at a point where a mere 1% of the population of the United States has acquired and accumulated 99% of the nation's financial wealth.  And trying to sustain life for the other 99%, on just 1% of the resources, as miraculous as that is, requires the application of the principles of humanity.  We did not get here because capitalism works so well, we got here because wealth was able to beat back as much humanitarian principle, and Christian principle for that matter, as it possibly could. 

My personal beliefs, including my theology, were admittedly influenced by being raised in a conservative, Evangelical denomination, Southern Baptist as a matter of fact.  The irony of that experience is that I attended a denominationally related university and graduate school where the theology classes I took contradicted much of the Southern folk religion that formed the basis of what most of the people in the pews believed.  They taught me how to think critically, and to use experience and knowledge together to make wise choices.  

At the top of the list of principles that are revealed in the words in the New Testament that Christians claim are those of Jesus himself, is "love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself."  And "neighbor" was defined by Jesus using the example of a member of the most hated and despised ethnic group of his day and culture, a Samaritan.  The idea of treating a Samaritan with any kind of human dignity, much less as an  equal, would have been anathema to virtually every individual of the same ethnicity and religion that was practiced in the Jewish provinces of the Roman Empire.  Samaria lay between Judaea and Galilee, and Jewish people travelling between the two took a much longer road around it, rather than cross through and have to deal with its people. 

And for those Evangelicals who want to literally transition the principles of the Bible to the current time and ignore historical and cultural contexts in interpreting it, their ability to explain away the way they despise and hate those who do not believe the way they do, and who don't look like them, is incredibly hypocritical.  

But I don't want to digress too far.  

I am a Democratic Socialist because Democratic Socialism is the primary means by which a reasonable measure of humanity is introduced into American society, and into its government. It is the effective counterweight to unbridled, unrestrained and corrupted capitalism.  It is a moral force for good.  And for those who want to consider the influence of Christianity on American history and development, it is more consistent with the genuine principles of the Christian gospel that Jesus revealed. 

Practical Aspects of Democratic Socialism

I am writing this from the waiting room of a Chicago hospital, where my wife is undergoing an MRI.  We are working class Americans, we have never earned a six figure salary, even with both of our incomes together, and we followed the advice of those we respected in planning for our retirement.  Of course, we depended on the thousands of dollars deducted, over more than 50 years of working, to provide us with Social Security and Medicare, and we are now benefitting from both of those socialist programs.  In fact, with the various ups and downs of the financial markets, and other issues that have come up, the majority of our retirement income is dependent on Social Security.  

We paid down almost all of our personal debt prior to retiring, purchased a reliable, new vehicle three years ago, and double paid to get it paid off in three years.  We are relocating to a state that is more tax friendly to seniors, with lower housing costs, in order to preserve savings, live in austere comfort, and enjoy retirement years.  All of that is possible because of the benefits of Democratic Socialism. 

We've had some unanticipated medical issues come up, and navigating through those has been a lesson in exactly why Democratic Socialism is a necessary part of our politics.  In no other field in this country have the abuses of profiteering and greed made a bigger mess of things than in our medical care.  This, and education, are the only two fields where those who have the experience, knowledge and ability to operate are not permitted to have much say over operations.   Insurance companies control every single aspect of health care, down to how many needles a lab tech can use while taking blood from a patient.  

And that's to save money of course, but not for actual health care.  It's to guarantee profitability.  American health care is based on how much profit can be made out of the pain and suffering of people who are sick.  The religious-based, not-for-profit hospitals which once dominated American health care are rapidly being bought up by health care corporations to eliminate the competition and to make more money.  And it's no surprise that we have reached a point where health insurance corporations are buying up hospitals and medical practices, to do just like old fashioned monopolies once did, owning every stage of the production.  

As a result, American medical research and practice no longer leads the world in research and development, nor in quality of patient care, though our rising mortality rates put us in the company of some third world countries.  

It is time for this country to socialize its health care provision and finance systems, take the profit out of all of it, drive the costs down, and let a single-payer health coverage plan take care of the expense, and of making sure that every American has equal access to the best quality health care.  That kind of equality stands on a basic American value.  About half of every dollar Americans spend on health care and health insurance doesn't go to their health care, but to profit margins and dividend payouts.  That's a lot of money, either to be saved, or to be applied to a higher level of quality healthcare. 

Being able to reform our health care system is one good reason why I am a Democratic Socialist.  This is the wealthiest nation on earth and while the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, virtually everyone in the whole society helped contribute to it.  So government, breaking down the practices that have created the inequity, and doing a better job of helping people use what their labor has earned, is one of its functions.  I'm all in favor of letting it do its job.  

But the attractiveness of Democratic Socialism is found in the word "democratic."  The Quakers speak of a concept they call "that of God within," the idea that humanity is capable of rising above the level of instinct, and can enhance the quality of their lives with values that defeat selfishness.  This is rooted in their value of human equality, a principle derived from the influence of the Christian gospel.  Democratic Socialism is based on the value of human equality, and the belief that a government of, by and for the people must be subject to the will of the people.  The result, when values are applied, is something that elevates the collective quality of life.  

And that's exactly why I'm a Democratic Socialist.