Opinion piece #3: Let's talk about socialism

Ah yes, socialism. Imagine: free college, free healthcare, or even basic universal income. Doesn’t that sound absolutely amazing in a completely sarcastic and hypothetical scenario? Quite frankly, no. Nothing is free, nor is such a thing attainable, unless we want increasingly higher taxes and want to dismantle the United States Constitution that our Founding Fathers vigorously worked on for our nation. 

Socialism only works until you run out of other individual’s money. And that is a fact.

By definition, socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. In other words, the government acts like an omnipresent guiding force that alleviates all of your social ills. Where is the incentive to work hard? Where’s the American Dream? 

Socialism emerged as a response to the capitalist system. Whereas capitalism is based on a free market system and private ownership, socialism is based upon public ownership of the means of production. This idea of having a social safety net is yet another fault of the far left. I fear that if Trump fails to win the 2020 reelection, that socialism will overtake the U.S. government.

According to CATO Institute, 57 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of young people have a positive view of socialism, but do they know what socialism actually is? Socialism doesn’t have the best track record in countries like the Soviet Union or today’s Venezuela. CATO Institute mentions within these countries that are under a socialist government, there is little or no economic growth, hunger, authoritarian government, and there are people risking their lives to flee.

In 2017 Gallup found that 67 percent of Americans believed that big government was a bigger threat to the future than big business was. Simply put, socialism believes in a big government, which is a steep contrast to what currently is in place.

In my opinion, socialism is based upon feelings and fantasy. It has given individuals empty promises and false expectations. Socialism promises, or has promised, material abundance to people; however, capitalism has been proven to do this, not socialism. American socialism focuses on this questionable sense of “equality” through government interference. I raise many red flags with the idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

“The standard agenda favored by most democratic socialists--single-payer health care, universal free college, and a guaranteed federal job for anyone who wants one--would cost some $42.5 trillion over a ten year period ($4.25 trillion per year). This would nearly double current federal spending levels,” according to a 2019 Reason article. The 2019 article additionally points out that federal government spending would rise from its current level of about 20% of GDP to 35-40% or more.  

The socialist agenda advocates for a $15 minimum wage, increased regulation of labor and corporate boards, more environmental regulation, more regulation of media and the internet and also increased protection to keep our foreign goods. I feel as if those who are in support of the aforementioned facets of socialism get much of his or her information on social media platforms and the biased media.

People fail to realize that socialism causes shortages. A 2019 National Review explains that in Venezuela, which is under a socialist government, there is no meat, medicine, flour, or even reliable electricity. How are Americans so blind to the negative faults of socialism? Are they that ignorant? Wake up, America.

This same issue in Venezuela is the same in North Korea. Toilet paper is scarce, as well as other basic amenities. The United States will never and can never be ruled under a socialist government. Thank God for  President Donald Trump reaffirming this such issue.

One of my main issues with socialism is the idea of universal healthcare. Universal health systems report long wait times for procedures, forces healthy individuals to pay for others’ medical care, and disincentives others to become medical professionals. The cost alone for a universal healthcare system would be a huge expense for the U.S. government, not to mention the steep increase in the debt.

As mentioned, doctors have less of an incentive to become medical professionals if he or she isn’t well paid. An article published by The Balance (2019) mentions that doctors might spend less time per patient to keep their costs down. Additionally, a universal healthcare system means there is less funding for new life-saving technologies. 

What does the United States look like now? There is a mixture of both government-run and private insurance. Sixty percent of citizens get private insurance from their employers. Yes, while there are 28 million Americans who have no coverage, this does not mean that a universal income would be the answer to the problem...unless you want taxes to explode. Medicare is already costing the country $675 billion on an annual basis, and Medicaid is costing $574.2 billion per year. That’s approximately $1.25 trillion a year.

Imagine: your taxes going up by 62% so that you can have government-funded health insurance. Do I want that? No. The problem is many fail to recognize this issue. Those who are in support of a socialist government want free handouts without realizing the sheer cost of such a thing. 

Let’s recap. Socialism’s welfare state disincentives working; it creates lazy people. Socialism creates government failure. It rations health care. Socialism would be the downfall to America.

Wake up, America. Stop being lazy, and actually work for what you want in life.