Just Let Socialism Take Over from Here
Fearing that society could fall apart, those in charge have reverted to ideals that would be reality in a state that wasn’t predatory and capitalist. It should be our reality.
In the wake of a global pandemic, millions of people’s daily lives and livelihoods have been affected by the outbreaks of the corona virus.
Here in the United States, essentially every business is either forced to stop operations, or has been forced to lose money in some way to protect their workers, and society — that is, unless you’re a bank or Wall Street corporation, in which case the Federal Reserve can loan you $1.5 trillion, and then $500 billion every week for the rest of the month. Wall Street — and the rich people who benefit from it the most — are always going to be saved first under capitalism, even if the trillion dollars of ‘loans’ doesn’t even have a positive benefit on the stock market.
Today, the Dow Jones took a double-digit plunge once again, The S&P 500 had its worst performance since the Reagan administration, and Donald Trump finally admitted that a recession is possible.
If this isn’t evident of capitalism failing, I don’t know what is.
Also read: I’m starting The #FightToWrite. Will You Join?
At a time like this, rich people and conservatives chose to continue look out for themselves — both fiscally and politically — and the rest of society has had to suffer because of it.
For example, Rep. Matt Gaetz voted to prevent Floridians from getting paid sick leave in 2013. Now, as he has come into contact with someone that had the virus and is required to quarantine, he himself is drawing his regular paycheck via Congress’ sick leave policy. Meanwhile, more than 33 million Americans do not have the option to stay home and still receive their paychecks.
Meanwhile, while the federal government is looking out for themselves and the economy, local governments had to take matters into their own hands. Many of them have suspended normal operations, such as stopping evictions, allowing children free meals, and waiving many other of society’s once ‘necessary’ rules, such as the TSA’s 3.4-ounce liquid and gels limit (raised for hand sanitizer only). Phone companies are not cutting off people from their services or charging them fees, loan companies were instructed not to accrue further interest on their loans, and people aren’t being sent to jail over minor offenses.
Lawmakers are even advocating for people to receive a universal basic income, which was considered a far-fetched idea a few weeks ago, despite being popularized by entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
All of these are examples of policies that would be reality year-round, without society being on the brink of failure. They aren’t all necessarily solely socialist, but could be made possible under policies proposed by socialists and democratic socialists for years now.
Many business owners and state governments have decided to pay for employees to still receive their checks under extenuating circumstances. The justice system is forced to find alternatives to throwing every person that commits any offense behind bars. People are being allowed to keep their homes, water, and power even if they can’t immediately afford to pay those bills.
All of these — and more necessities in this reality — have been proposed by leftists for decades now, and we were constantly told that society would fall apart under those circumstances. Yet, they have kept the opposite from happening for so many.
As Dan Kois wrote in “America is a Sham” for Slate, the cruel ways of society are not necessary, as we are constantly told. “…it’s not just that most of these practices are accepted as ‘standard.’ It’s that they are a way to punish people, to make lives more difficult, or to make sure that money keeps flowing upward.”
“Up until now, activists and customers have been meant to believe that the powers that be could never change these policies — it would be too expensive, or too unwieldy, or would simply upset the way things are done. But now, faced suddenly with an environment in which we’re all supposed to at least appear to be focused on the common good, the rule-makers have decided it’s OK to suspend them. It’s a crisis, after all.” — Dan Kois
Unfortunately, despite the swift actions by many in local government, not everyone is able to access the security these policies can give people because the federal government is not out to help them. We still don’t have an adequate way of ensuring that everyone that becomes sick (or can possibly become sick) can receive adequate and life-saving medical care — and as we see around the world, that is desperately needed to combat coronavirus.
And, under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, many conservatives are STILL working to prevent that from happening — despite support from majority of lawmakers of all political persuasions.
Kois reminds us in his conclusion, “remember that for a lot of Americans, a ‘return to normal’ is a scary prospect.”
While so many people in large cities and Democrat localities are benefiting from these ‘radical’ changes, a majority still aren’t.
It’s possible they can, under socialism. It’s not going to be easy, especially with the current conservative administration in command.
But, it’s possible. And it shouldn’t have taken a worldwide pandemic to make people understand that it’s possible.
Read my previous Medium article: Jokes — Or, a Eulogy for the Award Show
