You tell the average American that unversial healthcare should be a program in place so people of little financial means can happily see a doctor without having a huge debt over their head or having to die in a corner somewhere under a bridge, or that children of a poor family can go to college to get a decent education for free, decent and fair pay for low skill labors or mothers can have paid leave to take care of their new baby, they immediately parrot that's socialism or communism like they been trained to immediately respond to such ideas which makes a country more unified and compassionate for their fellow man and woman. đ
Do you think the American government and media has brainwashed the American people that anything helpful to a society is socialism and communism?
Not necessarily, the real problem is that the government can't even fund its current obligations and the interest on the debt is going to exceed the entire defense budget in the next few years.
How do you fund something when your going so far in the red and half the people do not even pay federal taxes? Taxing the rich isn't enough, corporate taxes are just making businesses become tax collectors, they won't lower profits.
I've heard the horror stories and even had a uncle die in Canada with their horrible socialized healthcare system... people die waiting to be approved for treatment. There is shortages of things as simple as penicillin and people with a prescription have to show up daily in hopes of getting it. There is even YouTube videos documenting this.
The government is very inefficient at most things it does, I don't want to have a 3 month waiting list to see a family doctor if the government runs it, or a 9 month wait to get into see a specialist.
Yet I have suggested many times there is a way for everyone to be happy.
It would go like this, you want free college education, you support it... fine. Opt in when you turn 18 for life. You get to go to school and have a free education. The rest of your life, you pay a extra tax (like FICA for SS) to fund others.
Same could be said for healthcare, you want government run health care... opt in for life, and pay a extra tax to fund it.
This method would let those who do not want it, not have to pay for it and those who support it, can pay for it. The rates just get adjusted as needed to prevent any program from going into the red, like auto adjust.
The technology already exists, but too many people think you have to tax everyone to give a special interest group something for free that others won't directly benefit from.
IF a program is popular enough, Free college education for example... the majority would opt in and be willing to pay that extra tax to fund it, and it won't be that much.
It does not always have to be one way or the other.
So no I do not think anyone is brainwashed, I just think people who are already taxed at over 50% (like me) don't want higher taxes.
I mean, yes America has and continues to produce anti-socialist and anti-communist propaganda.
But most Americans don't understand what Communism or Socialism really are. Hell, I'm technically a "Communist Canadian" according to several (also Canadian, but confused about where they live and what kinda passport they hold since May 2020) and I'm still learning what Socialism and Communism really are.
I have had people tell me to "enjoy [my] communist country" while buying (capitalist-grown and -developed) weed from me (a capitalist wage slave) at a (for-profit capitalist) dispensary.
So, technically yes? But also, most people don't know what they're protesting against or why.
Cold War propaganda and post-war anti-communist sentiment in the US was so prevalent and strong that it really DID brainwash generations enough for the fallout to still exist today.
If you look at polling numbers, most Americans regardless of political affiliation agree with the concept of universal healthcare.
Unfortunately the GOP, some establishment Democrats, and most of the voting base is still reflexively thinking in a propaganda-educated mindset.
So it's hard to explain actual social benefits - which can be present in a fully capitalist society, though not very well and not for long - to people who hear "social" and immediately jump to "MUH COMMUNISM".
I would say that there's significant current day brainwashing happening from the GOP and alt-right entertainment like Fox Entertainment's "infotainment" misinformation stations.
But that's honestly not surprising. Outrage and division make for good profit. Why would the people profiting from it most let it die out?
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Anonymous
(45 Plus)
+1 y
Quite a few states do that Mother's leave thing. I heard for sure Washington state does. I know some one from there who just had a baby and she gets almost a whole year off. I think we are the only country that does not have a form of communal health care. There might be others but I don't think its many. Canada has provincial health. Even England has NHS (National Health Service).
But come on more than half of the US citizens don't even know where Canada or England is on a map so who are they going to know anything but what the media feeds them? The are so McCarthied everyone is a communist to them.
The right-wing media definitely has brainwashed a lot of people. Anybody who's not a MAGA person is called RADICAL LEFT, and that term is repeated relentlessly. Some of these brainwashed people are senators or representatives, who instead of analyzing issues from all angles like they should be doing, just listen to Newsmax opinion on it.
The average MAGA person doesn't really know what communism or socialism even is, really. Social Security and the graduated tax system are socialist ideas, but your average MAGA person doesn't even understand that.
I do not believe that most people understand how to describe communism, nor socialism, with proper accuracy. Most have not read Das Kapital, in particular the first volume, which details rather accurate phenomena within capitalism, and flushes out how socialism and communism would be different.
From what I understand, it boils down to is property rights, or rules concerning wealth management. We do not give poor people control over factories, and we do not limit the housing/property market, so there is no way that we even resemble socialism nor communism.
Taxing the wealthy for social welfare programs is far from being something Marx envisioned, he wanted to give the power over a company to its workers. That is how the revolution would begin, the middle working class would take control over the means of production.
Right now, we distribute our wealth to the wealthy, and our laws increasingly reflect their desires. In practice, especially due to modern lobbying techniques and general corruption, we have something like a plutocracy.
I'm not sure if people have been brainwashed, but they are certainly as ignorant as ever concerning what truly matters, and the truth. One guy drones on about something he knows nothing about, and everyone who listens is just as ignorant as yesterday. They just have more words to express their ignorance and fears. No one cares to search for the truth, few understand how crazy our taxation system really is. For example, our federal taxes pay for marketing as a business deduction, this includes many if not all advertisements. Those advertisements paid for with tax dollars support marketing firms, advertisement agencies, athletes, athletic leagues, news agencies, and much more.
Think about how much money athletes make, top 1% of the world. Think about how much money that entire network of advertisements really is. That is just one issue.
As a concerned citizen, do you donate your excess income to those who need financial assistance?
Most liberal Democrats want "others" to be taxed and those taxes used to pay for the needs of others.
How about if the bleeding hearts with a decent income only keep a minimal amount of their incomes (enough for food and basic shelter) and write a check to the IRS so the government can give free things to those who don't have as much.
I often hear that people like the bleeding heart Bill Gates gives billions to charity. Good on him.
But even after all his donations he still is a billionaire many times over. How about if he gives up his lavish lifestyle and live in a one room apartment?
If he really gives a shit about poor people, he should give away all of his billions and live a below average lifestyle.
Socialism and communication are 2 economic theory models. The flaw in these models is that they are contrary to human nature and as such, will always fail. Anyone that has any basic knowledge of Economics knows the difference between wealth creation and earning money. They are also aware of the economic constant that, "Nothing is Free". No one is willing to work for free so what you call free, is wealth stolen or confiscated. Let me address the concept of fair. It was the first thing I taught my daughter when she was five years old and told me that things were not fair. If a child is not taught that life is not fair, their parents have failed them. The child does not have the basic knowledge necessary to navigate a cruel and harsh world where human nature is to compete and win. Yes, most people are uninformed and miseducated.
I am not an American, but I'm going to add my view here. A very short one. 1. I thought spreading that propaganda stopped after the end of the cold war. Like, I've read about political parties in the USA that have Communist and Socialist views. 2. Even if most of those ideas are socialist, what's wrong with following those ideas? P. S. I'm from a socialist country. That's one of the reasons why I felt awkward when I read your question. I felt like "What's wrong with having socialist or communist ideas"? So, yes, that...
I think a common mistake people make is conflating social politics and socialism, the strictly economic way things are produced in a society. That is why Social Democracy is nothing like Democratic Socialism. Or why Market Socialism and Syndicalism all have differing factors. I am not a fan of Social Democracy because the government is incompetent and cannot be trusted the responsibility to provide these services efficiently. It is also open to lobbying and crony corporatism. I am not saying I am for Socialism either, but the term means a whole lot different than what some make it out to be.
Keeping both sides angry at each other does seem a helpful way of keeping things the way they want them, yes. If I owned a monster insurance company I wouldnât want to stop making money either. To hell with people I donât know.
27.2K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.
I think it is just the opposite. The democrats and their PR organization (The Fake News) are promising free stuff for everyone to pander to as many special groups that they can. They will either raise taxes on people who have good jobs or they will print more money which will just make inflation worse. That sure looks like socialism to me.
Not exactly on the government level, but some overzealous individuals did that damage, yes. J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater come to mind...
No I think u donât understand how economics works. Not to say that in a mean way but we really donât have the money for it. And I know ur gonna go off on a ton of tangents about Norway and democratic socialism Yada yada yada. But thatâs the truth and I donât think u like that answer or are gonna accept it or even ask for a fuller explaination so whatever.
You never hear the US government claiming something is "socialist" or "Communist", because it would like to be close to Communist. It's really a kleptocracy, as are Communist regimes.
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Anonymous
(30-35)
+1 y
Cool McCool, You really went off on the deep end on this one. Why would a government or MSM, go against their own goal? You lost me on this one. Maybe you can explain what you meant.
Conservatives and classic liberals, such as yourself, have so much in common. You hate the term "conservative" and I used to hate you when you called yourself a "liberal."But one day you said something that shocked me. You said that you can't stand the crazy modern liberals. Holy sheep shit! It was like the clouds parted, and the sun shined through. That's when I figured you out. Now it all made sense to me.
You hate that illegals are destroying your beloved Dominican Republic, and I get that. I would love nothing more if we could get the homeless off the streets, and healthcare for all. Healthcare for "ALL", doesn't mean the whole world. I know it sounds heartless, but close the fucking border. Biden is spending money like a drunken sailor. He's giving billions to Ukraine, and now he's sending hundreds of troops to Somalia. They will be fighting some kind of tribal war. Why? He's not been in office long, and he's spent trillions of dollars. That trillion dollar covid rescue bill to help hurting Americans... about 10% went to hurting Americans. It's all just a bad joke. Now Joe wants to spend 200 billion on student loan forgiveness. Why? He's buying votes with your money. You don't need to be a math genius to see how we will never have healthcare for all Americans.
The Dems own the house, senate and the white house. It would behoove you to stop pointing fingers at the conservatives.
Yes, I agree with you. I'm for helping other countries in need or during emergencies situations but only when there's a excessive of wealth to go around and your own country is doing great and all citizens are doing good.
I think everything in the US, from education to the media, says exactly the opposite. Say "communism is good" in the streets and good luck not getting shot.
In terms of providing unversial healthcare, housing for the needy, free education and welfare food programs for struggling families then yes, but I believe in capitalism but under heavy supervision.
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