That Dreaded Suffix

We love our Social Security. We are lost without social media. Socialites used to be envied. (Maybe they still are. I wouldn't know.) We enjoy socializing. I even remember Social Tea Biscuits.

Yet, add the dreaded ism or ist and the words cause most Americans to raise their hackles. Of course, nobody wants to be impaled on a raised hackle. It's risky enough to identify as a Socialist; to advocate Socialism is a venal sin. The leap from Social to Socialist might land us in the great God Forbid. We choke on the word.

Americans live by a lie; or should I say, myth. The great American mythos is rugged individualism. We swallowed the notion of the self-made man from stories of the wild west. The west was indeed wilderness if you discount the million indigenous people whose land was stolen.

However the model of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood single-handedly creating a civil society is the wet dream of Hollywood. The fact is that the western territories received massive government subsidies in terms of land grants, federal support for railroads, infrastructure, agriculture and schools. 

None of that makes for a blockbuster movie. Call it support, grants or subsidies. Just don't call it Socialism.

The Democratic Socialists are not going to overthrow our government. Trump has already done that. Nor are they going to nationalize our frozen yogurt stores. They are advocating an extension of Medicare so that everyone is assured of healthcare. Currently, fifty nations around the world provide universal healthcare for their citizens. 

A social safety net is their agenda. It is long overdue. As the richest country in recorded history it is a national disgrace that we cannot find money to provide affordable housing for everyone along with childcare and higher education. We do not regard the general welfare as an asset. If that is Socialism, so be it.

The relationship between Government and the corporate world has always been largely hidden. Farm subsidies go to giant agribusiness which has driven out small farms. Fossil fuel companies also depend on federal handouts. Big Pharma benefits from government grants which go to universities for R & D. The consumer ends up paying twice. The one massive manufacturing industry that can never be brought off-shore is our arsenal.  Weaponry is a cash cow fed by the Pentagon. Corporate Socialism is in our bones but don't you dare utter that phrase.