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The USA’s Fear Of Socialism Is Misguided
Mistaken beliefs and induced fears are no substitute for real knowledge and rational choices
Of all the OECD nations, the USA is almost always an outlier. Its educational system ranks far lower than comparable nations; it spends twice as much on healthcare than the next-most-costly nation yet gets results near the bottom of the league table; it suffers a level of gun violence that exceeds most war zones; US infrastructure rates a D grade whereas most OECD nations manage B scores; and its citizens are ill-informed about the rest of the world.
Precisely because US citizens know so little about conditions elsewhere, they continue to imagine they live in “the greatest country on Earth” while actually living in an increasingly decrepit and backward nation.
Not surprisingly, therefore, most people in the USA have no idea what the word “socialism” means and they are equally confused about what the word “capitalism” means.
So we’re going to explore both, in order to try to shed a little light on a very important topic: how should society be arranged?
To begin with capitalism, most US citizens confuse capitalism with a market economy, and in turn confuse this with “democracy and freedom.” Let’s untangle the strands.
