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Charlie Uhi

Ortega

English 2010

3/27/19

Democratic Socialism:

Why It Appeal To So Many

It is really easy to see why socialism appeals to so many of the younger generation.

Socialism looks great on the outside with promises of a greener tomorrow and better wages for

those on the lower end of the pay scale, but at what cost are we able to bring debt relief and

higher wages to the American people? Socialism is appealing because of its ability to pull on the

heart strings of good-hearted people. Any decent human being would want better wages for the

for the poor and greener options not only for the planet but for the health of the people.

Here in the United States, our society operates under a capitalist mindset and seems to be

working well for us. This is not to say that capitalism is without its faults. According to an article

that was published by Joseph Taecker-Wyss called Democracy, Capitalism, and The law. Taecker

refers to the work of Milton Friedman’s theory and explains that capitalism provides the people

the ability to create their own feature because they are not being oppressed by an overpowering

government. The ability for the population to act upon their own volition, helps the economic

system spread its power. But he also argues that while capitalism allows people to have freedom,

the economic structure can sometimes not fully represent the people and he further explains that

the majority of the power is held by a group of elites that feed off of the labor of the masses.

Taecker also explains that the reason most of the people cannot obtain elite status, is

because it takes to much money and recourses for them to get their feet off the ground. Those

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recourses are being governed by the elite class, which as you can imagine will not forfeit their

wealth willingly. This inevitably forces the mass population to stay in their less than desirable

situations and environments. In his opinion, capitalism will always put business and corporations

before the population because the only way to keep the economy healthy in a capitalist

environment is to keep the businesses inside and flourishing. Think of money as the life force of

the country, and the businesses act as the highways of which deliver the life throughout the

country.

Taecker concludes by saying that the solution to this so that the people are better

represented is to have organizations like the National Lawyers Guild, that will look after the

welfare of the people and not the corporations. and will ensure that the people have a voice that

can be heard. With so many downfalls to capitalism, will socialism be able to fix these issues and

be able to sustain an entire country?

According to a New York Post article that was published by Karol Markowicz, Sorry,

Democratic Socialists-Your still pushing poison. Markowicz provides an interesting point of

view when it comes to the socialism economic system. She was able to see the damage that the

economic system can cause on the people and on businesses of the nation that adopted it.

Markowicz explains how the only way that the system would work is if it was funded by

business that were able to grow within a capitalist environment. Also, she explained that every

other country that is out there, is looking to catch up to America, why is that? Furthermore, every

time a government has implemented the system, the governments infrastructure becomes

compromised and begins to crumble.

Just like Venezuela’s economy, which has done nothing but disintegrate. In an article

called In socialist Venezuela, a crisis of faith not in just their leader but their economic model,

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that was published by the Washington Post and written by Anthony Faiola, which he explains

even though socialisms role in the collapse of the Venezuelan government is not extremely clear,

what is however, were the policies that were implemented in the country that altered the price of

living while also aided by the corrupt leadership, sealed the demise of the Venezuelan economy.

If implemented in the United States, the government will attempt to gain more funding at

the expense of the business owners and until there is no more businesses to keep the country

healthy, like what was stated above, businesses are the highways for which the lifeforce of our

nation travels through, without it our nation will wither away. In the article she also explained

that even the democratic socialist party claims that they are not what the past portrays them to be,

but rather a more refined model that has the potential to set the nation on a better path forward.

Markowicz concludes that what they are trying to implement in our nation still eerily resembles

that which has caused many nations to fall to their knees and caused traumatic experiences that

the masses had to endure.

For many reasons, socialism has always had an uphill battle while trying to establish

itself within the United States. According to an article reviewed by Arch Puddington, who is the

vice president of research at Freedom House, called It didn’t happen here: Why socialism failed

in the United States. Puddington reviews the history of socialism and why it was never able to

create a solid foundation for which to stand on. One of the reasons he pointed out was because of

Americas view of socialism being tied to the Soviet Union. Puddington also explained that every

time a left-wing idea had begun to form, that same idea was met with an overwhelming amount

of backlash by the government. However, Puddington does not believe that the disapproval of

the government led to socialisms inability to obtain a foothold in the country but rather the mere

absence of hate and need to replace the current capitalist economic structure. Puddington further

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explains though capitalism has led to the ability for people in the United States to obtain higher

living standards, on the other hand it has also created an environment for people who are less

fortunate to stay below the poverty level and keep them from obtaining the recourses and

opportunities to advance their economic status.

Even though socialism has had a hard time on gaining any traction in the past, today that

does not seem to be a problem. Most of the attention that has drawn to the socialist party can be

attributed to the efforts of Berny Sanders. While he was running for president in 2016, he gained

a lot of support and furthered the socialist cause. In an article titled Why democrats love

Democratic Socialism. Written by Samuel Hammond who states that the socialist party has

grown. “DSA has surged form 5,000 to just under 50,000” all of this was accomplished within

two years. Hammond also states that the mind set and the atmosphere around the idea has

changed mostly due to the members being more open about their political choice and about their

goals which fall under completely dismantling capitalism in our country. Hammond concludes

by saying that these goals are extremely bold and usually result in chaos like what was stated

about Venezuela and the and the crippling of a nation. Some of the actions that the socialist party

is trying to put forward besides the main ideas about wages and greener planet, is reforming the

criminal justice system and completely doing away with ICE. Hammond states that reforming

these will only cause damage to our great nation and essentially leave us defenseless

domestically.

The two possible changes above are just examples of what the socialist party has in store

for the United States. Referring to an article that was written by Aron Blake and published by

The Washington Post, called, Is socialism on the rise in the United States?, Blacke discusses all

the changes that would be taking place in the United States, such as train rail replacing air travel,

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a budgeted 4.6 trillion for infrastructure, guaranteeing jobs with competitive wages, and

upgrading the United States to become more energy efficient. Blake further explains that these

are just goals, and for the most part could not completely happen, this is also of course assuming

they are able to incorporates a socialist government beforehand. Blake also discussed how

statistically speaking the approval rating for a socialist government in the Unites States, has

stayed relatively the same of the past eight years with less than 40% of approval and just under

60% for against.

In conclusion, even though the role that many believe socialist to play in a failing

government seems to lack substantial evidence, however one can see that it defiantly uncertainty

with its promises that seem too good to be true. It is hard to determine whether or not it will

bring the United States to its knees. What we are clearly able to see is that many nations that

have adopted the socialistic ideology has in some way shape or form had issues progressing

economically where the United States has not seen this issue.

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Works Cited

Blake, Aaron. “Is Socialism on the Rise in the United States?” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 7 Feb. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/07/is-socialism-rise-

united-states/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.432c15ad5dc3.

HAMMOND, SAMUEL. “Why Democrats Love Democratic Socialism.” National Review, vol.

70, no. 18, Oct. 2018, pp. 14–16. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=asn&AN=131756176&site=ehost-live.

Markowicz, Karol. “Sorry, Democratic Socialists - You're Still Pushing Poison.” New York Post,

New York Post, 6 Aug. 2018, nypost.com/2018/08/05/sorry-democratic-socialists-youre-

still-pushing-poison/.

Puddington, Arch. “It Didn’t Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States.”

Commentary, no. 3, 2000. EBSCOhost, libprox1.slcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.65913156&site=eds-live.

Taecker-Wyss, Joseph. “Democracy, Capitalism, and the Law.” National Lawyers Guild Review,

vol. 74, no. 3, Fall 2017, pp. 186–192. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=asn&AN=129094152&site=ehost-live.

Taylor , Andrew. “Millennials Are in a Love Triangle with Capitalism and Socialism.” Learn

Liberty, Learn Liberty , 23 July 2017, www.learnliberty.org/blog/millennials-are-in-a-

love-triangle-with-capitalism-and-socialism/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI57ravvTs4AIVGx-

tBh24Qg66EAAYASAAEgKs9fD_BwE.

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Faiola, Anthony. “In Socialist Venezuela, a Crisis of Faith Not in Just Their Leader but

Their Economic Model.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Feb. 2019,

www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/in-socialist-venezuela-a-crisis-of-faith-not-in-

just-their-leader-but-their-economic-model/2019/02/11/ea67849e-2b33-11e9-906e-

9d55b6451eb4_story.html?utm_term=.25ff7f0310ae