Up with Socialism By Kelson Maynard and Jack Miller

 

Socialism as a political and economic and social theory aims to advocate and establish policies for the control of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services.  These policies are regulated by the community.  The community is represented by the state.  The state is  defined as the political entity that possesses sovereignty over a defined geographic area and population. It exercises control through legal and institutional structures. The state's functions are broad and encompass the creation and enforcement of laws, maintaining order, protecting property rights, defending sovereignty, and providing public goods and services. The state is a permanent and enduring entity. It remains even as governments change.

Government on the other hand is the organization or system through which the state exercises its authority and performs its functions.  The government is made up of institutions and officials that create, enforce, and interpret laws. It typically consists of three branches or divisions: the executive, legislative, and judicial. The government's functions include policymaking, administration, enforcement of laws, and providing public services.

Socialistic state policies emphasize governmental control over economic resources and seek to promote social and economic equality. This means that government intervention in markets, redistribution of wealth, and the provision of public services such as healthcare, education, and welfare, is imperative. The idea is to reduce the disparities between different social classes and ensure that all classes of society can benefit from economic prosperity, or all bear the burden in times of economic downturn.

Lately, there have been narratives about the collapse of Socialist ideology and policies.  That the assassination of removal of several leaders in the world who articulated and worked to establish socialist theories and praxis, that served as a template for political, economic, and social development in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa, marked the end of socialist ideas and experiments in the aforementioned areas. Why would a theory and praxis typically designed to reduce economic inequalities and promote social welfare through governmental control over production, distribution, and exchange be abandoned? What is the option? Capitalism? Has capitalism fulfilled these common socialist policies:

·        Universal Healthcare: Providing healthcare services free or at a reduced cost to all citizens.

·        Education for All: Free or subsidized education, from primary through tertiary levels, to ensure equal access to educational opportunities.

·        Public Ownership: Nationalizing key industries and services, such as transportation, energy, agriculture, and telecommunications, to operate them in the public interest rather than for profit.

·        Welfare Programs: Implementing comprehensive social safety nets, including unemployment benefits, disability benefits, pensions, and parental leave.

·        Progressive Taxation: Levying higher taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations to fund public services and reduce income inequality.

·        Minimum Wage Laws: Establishing a living wage to ensure that all workers can meet their basic needs.

·        Workers' Rights: Protecting labor rights through strong regulations on working conditions, the right to unionize, and collective bargaining.

·        Affordable Housing: Providing good quality public housing or subsidizing housing costs to ensure that everyone has access to safe and affordable homes.

·        Environmental Policies: Implementing stringent environmental protection laws and investing in renewable energy to reverse environmental degradation, promote sustainable development and community health.

·        Public Services: Expanding and enhancing public services like transportation, childcare, and recreational facilities to be accessible to all members of society.

These socialistic policies generally aim to create a more equitable and just society by addressing disparities and ensuring that all citizens have access to essential services and opportunities. Can the same be said for capitalism? 

The prevailing discourse of capitalism is to under mind humanism because capitalism is more important to maintain than spreading real democracy for all throughout society. Capitalism promotes white patriarchy which must supersede over diversity and inclusivity of citizens that do not ascend to this white patriarchal system. Overall, capitalism is not conducive to elevate social or economic equity from the bottom up; since it is design to promote individualism and to maintain a caste hierarchy that favors the powerful and the elites at the pinnacle of society.

Social theory and development in the Global South have been met with skepticism by Western Capitalism and some post-colonial heads of State and the elites in these areas, leaving the vast majority of young people, children, women and the elderly lacking an essential quality of life for themselves. Thus, the development of Socialism have been de-railed in much of the Global South.

Currently, systems of capitalism ramp down and suppress dissent that goes against the State to protect the property class and its relationship to occupation, apartheid and imperialistic philosophies. In the United States, one hundred forty million citizens are poor and low income. That comprises forty-one percent of the total population of three hundred forty million citizens. The top ten percent earners control sixty-eight percent of wealth in the country, in contrast to the bottom fifty percent earners who control a meager two-point five percent (2.5) of total wealth.

Social theory and humanism are intertwined to provide the social metrics from healthcare through public services as described above to all in society. Whereas, capitalism has failed miserably these same metrics in all faucets for the majority seeking essential life principles and fundamental humane human conditions of food , clothing and shelter.