Today the Freedom Report will do an investigative report into the claims that Socialism is on the rise here in America. America and the world is undeniably left leaning, But socialist? Let's take a look.
First off, We're going to take a look at Bernie sanders. He has been accused of being a "socialist". Is this true? Let's see. Bernie sanders typically points to his policies such as Single payer health care, Fifteen dollar minimum wages, etc. and then points to countries such as Denmark and Norway and says "look! see! these countries have my policies and they work just fine!" But it should be noted, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and other countries are NOT socialist. Let me explain why.
Socialism is defined as worker ownership of the means of Production. Anyone who has a simple understanding of Marxist theory understands that. What this means, is the workers democratically run the work place and are not ruled by a boss or master, which Marx argues is exploitative. The purpose of this report is to not further Capitalist theory or Marxist theory, so I won't comment my thoughts on that. But now that we know the definition of Socialism, let us take a look at Denmark.
Denmark is still a capitalist country. It is a mixed market. It is neither State capitalism nor a Free market, it is a Mixed market. This is obvious to see when the Denmark public spending level is high, but a private sector still exists. The heritage foundation has published an economic report that can be read here. link What one must ask themselves before calling a policy or country "socialist" is consider, "is this granting the workers control? or is it granting the government control over the market or workplace?" If not, and if capitalism still exists, it is a mixed economy. Rojava is the only country enacting true socialist countries, I suggest you read up on Rojava here.
However. according to a "yougov" poll, 42% of democrats have a "favorable" view of socialism. you can read that here. https://today.yougov.com/news/2016/01/28/democrats-remain-divided-socialism/ Also, 43% of those between 18 and 29 have a 'favorable" view of socialism.
This is why i heavily doubt that. As i stated above, Bernie sanders typically point to countries such as Denmark which is a mixed market and call it socialism. which is not true. Many self titled "democratic socialists" say FDR was a socialist, and if you like roads you're a socialist. This is uneducated and frankly funny. Did FDR abolish the capitalist system and put the means of Production in the hands of the workers? No, he enacted Keynesian economic policies to try and SAVE the private sector. Also, roads and social security are socialist? i would like to hear your quote from Marx or Engels proving that for me please. Roads and social security are just more proof of a Mixed economy, and not socialism.
Now, the left is no doubt highly on the rise in America. That is not the question. But socialist? the Freedom Report states No.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this special report.
