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If Bernie Sanders showed us anything in 2016, its that the next generation is no longer afraid of the word socialism. Bernies ascent from political obscurity to nearly winning the Democratic primary vote is astounding, especially when using the word socialist has been political suicide for generations. The mainstream narrative is that Sanders used his brash Brooklyn accent to charm millennials into nearly giving him the Democratic presidential nomination, but that he was ultimately unelectable because he called himself a socialist. But Ill argue that Sanders popularity was not in spite of his socialist label, but because of his socialist label, and that democratic socialism is the only way we can successfully resist Trumpism.

Lets leave our baggage surrounding the word socialism at the door and start with a clean slate. Socialism does not equal government control. Let me say this again. Socialism does not equal government control. Socialism does not entail a tyrannical federal government taking control of businesses, but rather its inverse. Socialism means deepening democracy.

Under American capitalism, we have political democracy. We vote for our mayors, congressmen, and senators to represent us and make laws that we feel are in our best interest. Political democracy allows us to have a hand in creating the society we want to live in, and if our representatives arent doing a good job, we can vote them out.

Calling American capitalism democratic is only half-true, however. Despite having political democracy, we do not have economic democracy. Think about a horrible boss youve had. Were you able to speak up and change their behavior? In the vast majority of cases, no, of course not. Youre beholden to your boss, and at the end of the day, their word is law.

Many employees have little to no control over a companys decisions, even if they do have fair bosses, because of the traditional top-down system. In essence, companies are little tyrannies where shareholders have all of the control and the workers are at the mercy of their judgment. If shareholders want to liquidate a company to make a couple million dollars and throw thousands of people out of work, hire a corrupt CEO, or pollute the environmentthe employees have no power to say no. Make no mistake about itthis is economic tyranny.

Democratic socialisms solution to economic tyranny is deepening democracy by democratizing the workplace. This means extending the American democratic ideal of one citizen, one vote to the workplace and creating a one worker, one vote workplace democracy. Rejecting the state-run models of Soviet-style socialism, economic democracy is a fundamentally different system than the socialist experiments of the 20th century. Under economic democracy, workers arent at the mercy of their bosses, because the workers are the ones electing their bosses in a bottom-up system. This way, every boss will have a mandate to run the company with everyones interests in mind, including the workers. If the bosses dont do a good job, they get voted out. The ownership switches from shareholders to workers, from tyranny to democracy.

Many democratic companies already exist. Companies run democratically are called cooperatives, and you can find them all over America and the world. You dont even need to look far. Bostons very own Harpoon Brewery is employee owned.

One of the most successful cases of economic democracy is found in Spain. The 10th-largest corporation in Spain, the Mondragon Corporation, is democratically run as a cooperative and has nearly 75,000 employees working in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, and finance. If any sector of the Mondragon conglomerate goes under, the company re-trains its employees and hires them in a different sector that needs their labor. Each year, a portion of the profits is given to every employee, making everyone accountable for their actions and creating a culture of participation, because every worker benefits when the company does better.

Mondragon values both ethical business practices and efficiency, creating true sustainability that is extremely rare under the current system of economic tyranny. In fact, it has been shown that cooperatives last longer than top-down corporations and avoid creating market bubbles that lead to market failure like we saw in the Great Recession.

At the heart of economic tyrannys failure is the incentive structure. As any Econ student will tell you, economics is all about incentives. Companies today are incentivized to create value for their owners, the shareholders, which is often a detriment to everyone else in the company. This creates the insane amount of economic inequality that plagues America today, because companies are incentivized to push for higher profits over higher wages. With economic democracy, companies are still incentivized to create value for their owners, but since the workers are the owners, the company operates in the interests of everyone. Economic democracy creates more ethical and stable companies, which in turn creates a more equal and stable society.

Economic democracy attacks poverty and inequality at the root, removing the need for the government to come in and redistribute the wealth, because wealth will be distributed fairly naturally. Government programs like welfare and food stamps arent needed because companies are incentivized to pay their owners (i.e. the employees) a living wage. The economy is run from the bottom-up, creating a more prosperous and more equal society without government intervention.

Economic democracy is democratic socialism, and it is the only way forward because everything else had failed. American capitalism has run its course. We tried laissez-faire capitalism in the 19th and early 20th century, and it caused the worst economic crash in world history. We tried Keynesian reforms in the 20th century that ended in stagflation, and our Keynesian reforms after the Great Recession have failed to bring about a recovery for the majority of Americans (95 percent of jobs added under Obama were temporary). The average American wage is the same as it was in 1979 while expenses such as medical bills and college debt continue to push Americans to the brink of bankruptcy. Both Democrats and Republicans have been complicit in this rigged system, and this economic malaise is the very thing that fuels Trumpism and the alt-right. If we are to stop Trump, we need a new approach. It is time to deepen democracy. It is time for socialism.

Featured Image by Zoe Fanning / Heights Editor

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Socialism Is the Solution - The Heights

Bombay, November 26: After his week-long tour, the World Bank President, Mr Robert McNamara, gave the assurance that the World Bank "intends to play its part" in seeing that India's needs are met fully", even as India plays its part by seeing that "domestic resources are fully mobilized". He ended the tour with a hectic day of discussions in Bombay with Reserve Bank and industrial finance officials, industrialists, bankers, economists, officers concerned with the development of the Bombay-Poona metropolitan area, and the Deputy Prime Minister.

From all these and his meetings in Delhi, Calcutta, and Madras, the World Bank chief must have had a fair idea of the developmental and social tasks that the country faces as it slowly emerges from three years of industrial recession. His final statement, however, indicates that rather than helping industry as hitherto, World -Bank aid will concentrate on agriculture and agro-industries, family planning and some other overheads.

In Mr McNamara's statement there is only one line which refers to industry-- that the break-through in agriculture should support a jump in industrial production. Thus the World Bank favours first things first, a home truth that the Planners themselves have come to accept after the wrong direction taken by the three Plans.

"I have great hopes for India's future," said Mr McNamara. Underlying this was his highly optimistic assessment of the progress made in agriculture already, and the further growth in productivity that can be achieved by using high-yielding seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, and irrigation. He was impressed by the "successful agricultural revolution which is taking place, with some stops and starts, all over your subcontinent", and noted that this will give a stimulus which should move industry out of its recession. But this, brief reference carries with it a recognition of the need for continued non-project assistance to finance imports of raw materials and the maintenance needs of industry.

The point was emphasizedand acknowledged by Mr McNamaraby the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation, the main industrial financing agency in the private sector. The ICICI has already, taken from the World Bank seven lines of credit aggregating $165 million. The ICICI stated that it expects in the near future a 50 per cent expansion in its lending activities, and will seek an eighth line of credit from the World Bank next year.

The World Bank is interested in helping to finance the development of the metropolitan areas. Mr McNamara met civic and Government officials in Calcutta and Madras. In Bombay he was given an idea of the worsening problems of the highly industrialized Bombay-Poona area. Drinking water, road and rail arteries, slum clearance, satellite towns, etc., are estimated to cost Rs 1,000 crores in the next two decades. A Regional Metropolitan Board is at work, and its plans were submitted to the World Bank President for foreign exchange assistance.

There was some publicity from Delhi that the Commerce Minister, Mr Dinesh Singh, would fly to Bombay at the week-end to tackle the crisis in the cotton industry. More than 80 mills have closed, and over 80,000 men are out of work. The Minister did come, but the talks lasted hardly an hour and ended in a "damp squib", as an industry source put it. This disappointment is reflected in a further fall of mill shares.

Official spokesmen have lately shown some recognition that the crisis is not all due to mismanagement and frittering away of profits, but to high cost of cotton, wages, etc., and waning purchasing power due to inflation. On top of this, excise levies have risen to Rs 117 crores per year, from almost nil when planning began. As Mr Naval Tata, head of the Tata mills, has said, "It is a classic example of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs".

None of these problems has moved an inch towards amelioration. The Commerce Minister did not propose any short-term remedy, and he rejected the industrys demand for decontrol or an increase in controlled prices. That costs of production have gone up by 15 per cent since the last price revision was ignored. The only sign of hope is that there is a slight upward trend in the wholesale offtake of cloth. If this continues, sales will provide some funds. A consumer survey by the official Textile Committee hopes that demand will rise on account of the increase in farm incomes.

The Minister indicated that some long-term remedies are under consideration, but they will form part of the fourth plan. They will help the industry to modernize itself over a period, and will promote exports. Since incentive schemes have been re-introduced, textile exports have risen for the first time since devaluation. They are likely to reach Rs 106 crores this year and may go up to Rs 120 crores in 1969-70. The Minister said that being the oldest and largest industry in India, it is vital to the economy, and therefore the Government and the industry should work together for its progress. Well, this noble sentiment coming from Mr Dinesh Singh is welcome.

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From The Archives: What Is Socialism? - Swarajya

Posted: Feb. 27, 2017 12:01 am

One day, President Donald Trump is at a prayer meeting talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger being lousy on TV, and on another, he is naming the brilliant Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser. I will hereby be an unsolicited national hope adviser. Do the second kind of thing much more and wholly eradicate the first kind of thing, Mr. President, and save us from a grave public enemy.

That would be the kind of socialistically inspired future represented by Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate. She wanted more freebies but less freedom, more spending, more regulations, a marketplace coerced into failures, identity-group divisiveness, contemptuous elitist supremacy and judicial power usurping democracy along with constitutionalism.

President Barack Obama was also a champ at all of this, and while the public mostly liked him, many did not like what was doing. Thus, after his eight years in office, Democrats had lost a net of 62 seats in the House, nine seats in the Senate, 12 governorships, more than 900 state legislature seats and the presidency, according to a Fox News report. Republicans took charge, and there is now an extraordinary opportunity to reverse a big-government trend threatening to encapsulate us for eons.

The thing is, we may be cheated out of that chance if Trump does not give up on his stupidities and instead provides his enemies the wherewithal to stymie the best in him and turn the country back over to their contrary dreams. If he loves America, therefore, he should please, please quit obnoxious tweeting for starters. It is absurd and makes him look like a misbehaving child with a misused toy.

Then he should quit holding zany press conferences in which he overstates everything, insults everyone and further institutes enmity. He should in fact avoid adlibbing as much as possible. He is a non-linear, now-you-see-it, now-you-don't speaker who treats us to unconnected, unexplained phrases that can mean just about anything and are advantageously interpreted by critics as saying he favors hell over heaven.

Still more advice. He should quit substituting glances at a TV set for actual study. He should quit having reckless phone calls with heads of state. He should quit putting together policy plots with minimal trustworthy advice. He should quit the small-mindedness that puts claims of crowd size above real issues.

Yes, it is absolutely the case that his critics are often far worse than he is. Sen. Elizabeth Warren? Sen. Chuck Schumer? There is nothing polite to say. The reputable press is not so reputable when its commentators, for instance, issue baseless growls about anti-Semitism.

It is also despicable that protesters carry signs referring to Trump as anti-gay when there is absolutely nothing to back them up. It is simple-minded and worse for anyone to insist Trump's criticism of someone who is black is ipso facto racism, and yet we have seen it. In terms of evidence at this point, the Russian collusion theory is right up there with the birther theory. Vandalizing college students should be required to clean up after themselves before packing their bags and going home, and the leakers in the intelligence community should be worried about criminal prosecution.

There is lots of good in Trump, as seen in his executive orders on pipelines and absolutely smothering regulations, his choice for the Supreme Court, most of his Cabinet picks and, as mentioned earlier, his choice of McMaster as a top adviser.

He may very well do something about a crime rise the left uncaringly dismisses as nothing much. Watch for an improved world order. Some of his tax ideas are excellent, if not the one on imports, and we should replace Obamacare with something better, although prudence is needed. The wonders already happening in the economy are signs of how he actually could do splendid things.

But if Trump does not cut out the bad, there are those waiting in the bushes with a ruinous future in mind.

(Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may email him at speaktojay@aol.com.)

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How Trump could lead us to socialism yet - New Jersey Herald - - New Jersey Herald

Re: Budget puts NDP in a jam, editorial, Feb. 22.

Your conclusion rests on unproven assumptions.

For example, you write: The trick for the NDP would be to pay for new promises without raising taxes. There is no reason taxes should not be raised.

For example, the sensible way to eliminate the Medical Services Plan premiums in one fell swoop is to roll them into the income-tax system. The revenue replacement would come from leaving the lowest tax bracket as is, moderately increasing the middle bracket (but most would probably pay less than their current premiums) and more steeply increasing the rate of the highest bracket (or even adding one) so that those who have been getting an undeserved bargain on their MSP premiums for so many years would finally pay a fair share of the costs of health care.

That would be one NDP promise kept.

Research suggests that $10-a-day daycare would pay for itself through enhanced economic activity and the ensuing tax revenues. Theres another promise.

Stopping the Site C dam, and ending all subsidies to the oil and gas industry, would free plenty of money to be invested in the untapped resources that are the disabled and those living in poverty. Raising their rates to a livable level would, alone, by increasing purchasing power, benefit local economies, leading to increased tax revenues.

Altogether, socialism will pay for itself with a little help from each and every one of us not only in financial terms but in personal well-being and creativity.

Elizabeth Woods

Victoria

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Socialism pays off financially and personally - Times Colonist

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD Mercedes Schlapp was delivering a warning about the dangers of young Americans support for socialism when she turned to face the thousands of conservatives in the crowd.

Parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles this is your responsibility, Schlapp, a columnist at the Washington Times, told a Conservative Political Action Conference event on Thursday. You have to take this message to your children and your nieces and nephews.

Schlapp was moderating a panel titled FREE-stuff vs. FREE-dom: Millennials' love affair with Bernie Sanders. It was both an exploration of young peoples skepticism toward capitalism and a brainstorming session for what should be done about it.

The old story used to be, Wait until they have a mortgage, and then theyll become conservative, said Timothy F. Mooney, an attendee who is a partner at the Republican political consulting firm Silver Bullet. I honestly dont think thats true anymore.

This week marks a celebratory moment for attendees of CPAC the first such conference since Republicans captured both branches of Congress and the White House this November. But beneath much of the enthusiasm, some conservatives here acknowledge theyre also worried that their recent victories could be undone by a generational shift toward the left.

After all, democratic socialist Bernie Sanders won more votes from those under 30 than any other presidential candidate in primary history. Donald Trump is wildly unpopular with people under 30 (they disapprove of his job performance by a 67-25 margin, according to Pew), and millennials will soon be the countrys biggest voting bloc. And polls show that, for the first time ever, young people are more supportive of socialism than capitalism.

Conservatives and free market adherents are well aware of the trend-lines and wrestling with their response.

On Thursday, 23-year-old Jonathan Stack was at CPAC with a group of young conservatives called Turning Point USA. Dozens of Turning Point students milled around the convention hall, wearing matching T-shirts with Socialism Sucks written on the front in Sanderss iconic font and style. The Bernie-themed shirts serve as a way of drawing young people into a conversation that can become an explanation of conservative and free market principles, Stack said.

When I go out to campuses, people immediately see this and they walk right up. Then they see what were talking about and we can have a good discussion, says Stack, a student at Penn State.

Of course, not every Sanders supporter is a willing convert. But Stack says many are persuadable, and he is convinced more will become so during the Trump years: Right now, its just a Bernie Sanders fad I really believe in what Trump and the Republicans can do with full control when people see those changes in two or three years, theyll change on capitalism.

Similarly, other Turning Point students agreed they had close friends who supported Sanders but that those friends didnt understand the implications of his socialism. I dont know if they know what the true form of socialism really means, said Isaac Michaud, of the University of Maine.

Once Sanderss fans did understand, many of the students believed, theyd change course. Added Alli McGough, 21, of the University of Iowa: I have a lot of friends who like Bernie. But they dont understand it they just hear, Free stuff; thats what I want. They dont understand how taxes work. Its just whats cool right now.

Joe Field, 17, a high school senior from Davenport, Iowa, said he has gone to activist training summits to learn about conservative principles. Davis is frequently debating friends of his who support Sanders in his government classes, on weekends, in school because he thinks theres no guarantee theyll eventually come back into the fold.

You cant just ignore them and say theyll come around, Field said. You have to go out every day and argue about lower taxes, and no tariffs, and stuff like that.

Older conservatives also cited a range of tools they hope will snap the Sanders spell. Some said young Americans would fall out of love with socialism as they grew older. Others expressed hope that an accelerating economy would improve millennials faith in capitalism.

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said in a panel discussion that if millennials saw that national monuments that pay homage to Americas heroes, theyd be more likely to adopt American values.

"Come to Washington, go to the National Mall and see the memorials to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln all of these great people who stood for all of these great ideas, DeSantis said. Its all about articulating what it means to be an American. That sense of history and understanding, I think, will make a big difference."

Overwhelmingly, most argued the biggest difference would come from changing American education. Chris Astriab, 64, of Fairfax, Virginia, said students had forgotten Economics 101 because they failed to teach it school.

They need basic economics about how the free market works, Astriab said. These kids are so spoiled today that they don't even realize that the free market made them a possibility. Thats the biggest problem.

Other attendees cited the need to use government resources to reform American universities because the indoctrination just starts younger and younger these days, said Brandon Johnson, 43.

I dont know if its through cutting of use of funding or civil rights lawsuits, since a lot of these universities do engage in organized conspiracies to suppress assembly by conservative groups, said Johnson, a lawyer who volunteered on the Trump campaign.

If professors are saying Trump is Hitler in class, if they want to use their teaching pulpit to bully their students, they should be willing to deal with the consequences. Change the tenure system.

If fixing higher education didnt work, conservative attendees stressed that young Americans needed to be reminded of life under the Soviet Union, arguing that they were insufficiently aware of the dangers of authoritarian states under communism.

They need to take a one-week ticket to Cuba, spend some time there, and then come back and tell me about socialism, said Ana Quintana, of the Heritage Foundation, at the CPAC panel about Sanders.

This was a common refrain: The panel repeatedly mentioned lessons from countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and the former Soviet Union, saying that millennials had to understand that socialism is inseparable from dictatorship. Dr. Greg Dolin, a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union and another panelist, agreed with Quintana: Part of the problem is millennials are in thrall with socialism because they havent experienced it; theyve only seen flowery eulogies to Fidel Castro.

The panelists also argued that young people simply hadnt realized that many of the products that they know and like are created by capitalism. They saw an unrecognized contradiction between millennial consumption habits and their political ideology.

Guess who is using Uber? Dolin said. [Millennials] like the freedom and the ability to pick up the phone and order food from any of the 20 restaurants in town. But you cannot have Uber and a socialist-run health care system its both or neither."

But despite the panels discussions and campus drives, at least one attendee remained convinced there was essentially nothing conservatives could do to cure young peoples love of socialism. The only people Bernie appeals to are those in college with no direction, who are like welfare students and welfare people whose money is paid for by their parents, said Geraldine Davie, 76, of Virginia.

Theres nothing conservatives can do to change those mush for brains. Theyre just going to have to wait When they have a job and a baby, they can talk to me about socialism. Because then theyll say, no thanks and become rugged individualists.

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How conservatives want to break Bernie Sanders's spell over young ... - Vox