Vol. 42, No. 09
Socialism in America
AT A GLANCE
• Socialists may portray American capitalism as the opposite of socialism, but that’s not the case.
• The noxious weed of socialism has been gradually strangling the American tree of liberty for a long time.
• In 1913 the U.S. created a central bank and a progressive income tax, both planks in The Communist Manifesto.
• Though socialism today is associated with the Democrats, Republicans also support variants of it.
With all of the consternation over the rise of “democratic socialism” in the United States, it is easy to believe that socialism is a novelty in the land of the free. While various strains of collectivism that have self-described as “socialism” have been around for about two centuries, only recently, some contend, has socialism transformed into a majoritarian movement in the United States, thanks to the exertions of malignant leftists in Congress such as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), as well as the rise of charismatic and unapologetic socialists such as New York’s nouveau mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Socialism, it is contended, is an alien, Old World system completely at loggerheads with Americanism.
Would that all of this were true. In point of fact, the noxious weed of socialism has been entwined with the American tree of liberty from the very early years of the Republic, its siren song beguiling American intellectuals and idealists soon after it first appeared in Europe. And the only thing novel about its current popularity is that its supporters now have the intellectual honesty to call it what it is, openly. Generations of Americans past embraced broad swaths of the socialist program, albeit under different labels, and it is unfortunately but undeniably true that America is already in part a socialist country.
Broadly speaking, socialism embraces all forms of collectivism that disparage individuality and private property, and that emphasize secular materialism. There have been spiritual and religiously motivated strains of collectivism (such as those practiced by medieval monastics, by the Pilgrims, and by some of the Mormon pioneers), but, while these incorporated some of the forms of socialism, their motives were completely different from those of bona fide socialists. And it is the ultimate objectives of bona fide socialism that are its distinguishing feature — the reason for everything included in its program. Socialism is not a political party, nor is it a platform with a set of mundane action items. Socialism is an all-encompassing program for perpetual revolution intended to radically change human nature and reconfigure every aspect of human society, both from the top down and from the bottom up. Socialism is both a philosophy and a plan of action, and it has a set of ultimate goals, including the abolition of private property, the annihilation of individuality, the imposition (ironically, there is no other term!) of radical equality, and the destruction of all of the norms of traditional civilization (especially Western civilization), including family-centered moral values, and a belief in God and in God-given individual rights that are antecedent to the state.
Premium Content
Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account to read the full article, or subscribe below for unlimited digital access.
Log In to Continue Reading
- 12 Issues Per Year
- Digital Edition Access
- Digital Insider Report
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime
- Renews automatically
- 12 Issues Per Year
- Print edition delivery (USA) *Available Outside USA
- Digital Edition Access
- Digital Insider Report
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime
- Renews automatically