The Socialist Menace Piercing the corporate veil of deception

Issues

The Socialist Platform

So what exactly is socialism, you may ask?  What is the platform; where does a socialist stand on important issues today?  Below you'll find not an exhaustive list, but a few of the critical beliefs - my beliefs, that is.  This is not the precise platform of any specific political party or socialist organization, but these are my own views, which are generally socialist or Marxist in nature, just to give a rough idea of what the hell I stand for.

1. Anti-war.

Generally speaking, socialists oppose war.  This is not an absolute - I'm not a pacifist - but the purpose for which people fight makes a huge difference as to the war's morality.  A war waged by an imperialist nation that benefits the ruling class is obviously immoral; this includes America's current occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the first Gulf War, Vietnam, and even World Wars I and II.

The latter, WW2, is most often portrayed as the very definition of a good and just war, fighting against the Nazis who were perpetrating a holocaust and genocide.  However, the U.S. entered the war purely to benefit itself and exploit the situation - it ignored the plight of Jews in Europe for years, it allied itself with Stalin, a brutal dictator, and it aerially bombed many cities in Germany and Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.  While Hitler almost embodies evil, America's government did not act with much more morality than the Nazis did during that war.  Imperialist wars are universally bad, but not all violence is necessarily a bad thing, as explained in the next point.

2. Pro-revolution.

A mass popular uprising against the ruling class is generally justified, especially since the aim is often to create a more democratic and free society.  In 1776 the U.S. revolted against the British Empire, which had long oppressed and tyrannized its American colonies; as a result, the founders during this Enlightenment era started from scratch and created a brand new government.  The American Civil War, too, was a bloody conflict against the ruling slavocracy of the South; the war was revolutionary in character and had a noble goal of ultimately abolishing slavery.  The democratic uprisings today in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and elsewhere are justified, as well.

3. For higher taxes on the rich.

The gap between the rich and the poor worldwide is extreme, but even within the United States it's enormous.  It's always existed, but at least the income tax structure used to be much more progressive.  In the early 1940s, the marginal tax rate on the highest income bracket was 81-88%.  In 1944-45 it shot up even higher, peaking at 94%.  And for nearly another 20 years, until 1963, it remained in the upper 80s or at 91%.  This rate, of course, did not apply to the poor or working class people, but it was merely a marginal rate on all income earned AFTER your first $200,000-$400,000.

Today, not only is the rate far, far lower - a mere theoretical 35% or so, maximum - but in reality, the super-rich make most of their money not from a paid salary but from capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at only 15% (and many conservatives want to lower this rate to 0%, of course).  Thus, the effective rate that the richest 400 individuals in the U.S. pay is something like 16-17%, a remarkably low (and regressive) tax rate.  The trend of the rich getting even richer has been accelerating over the past few decades; it is more extreme than ever today.  Socialists favor much more progressive taxes on the richest individuals and corporations, with lower taxes for workers, who are the vast majority of society.

4. Pro-choice.

This is one of those points with which true conservatives will agree - "big government" has no place in your private life, interfering with intimately personal decisions.  For the government to restrict or prohibit abortion, it must commandeer a woman's body and force her to carry the baby for the remainder of the term, then force her to undergo labor, which can be harmful to her health (or even fatal in some cases).  Then, of course, she is burdened with taking care of a child for many years, or with the emotionally difficult decision of giving it up for adoption.

Individual autonomy and freedom should prevent the government from such extreme and outrageous control over women's bodies.  Furthermore, abortion is primarily a right for the working classes, the poor and young - wealthy women can afford to raise a child comfortably, while a teenage working class girl simply cannot (at least, not without giving up her future).  The choice must belong to the individual, not the government.

5. Anti-death penalty.

Socialists believe that crime is a social and economic problem, and it should have social and economic solutions as a consequence.  Crime is not due to specific deeply flawed individuals who choose, regardless of circumstance, to engage in criminal activity.  It's highly correlated to education, personal wealth and income, and other socio-economic factors.  Such factors should be addressed as a primary solution.

Of course, a tiny handful of individuals are truly dangerous - there are certainly a few psychopaths out there who should be kept away from society if necessary - but for the vast majority of people, prison is not a viable or long-term solution.  The death penalty is a particularly brutal and barbaric form of punishment, completely unacceptable in our modern, civilized, democratic society.  The state should not wield such extraordinary power as to have the ability to kill its own citizens.

6. Pro-gay marriage and equal rights.

The Supreme Court has declared that the right to marry whomever you choose is a fundamental human right.  It said this in the 1970s in the context of interracial marriage, but the same principle applies to sex or gender.  This is not an issue to be left up to the "popular sovereignty" of the states any more than slavery was.  The right to marry is fundamental, and to deny this right based on gender or sex is arbitrary and discriminatory.  Socialists oppose all discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or any other category that stems from prejudice or bigotry.

7. Anti-religion.

Marx, of course, infamously said "religion is the opiate of the masses."  The idea behind this is more than simply dismissing religion as fiction and as a tool that the ruling class uses to keep people obedient, submissive, and distracted (although this is all true).  The broader point is that true socialism is sometimes referred to as "scientific socialism," emphasizing its embrace of the scientific method and a materialist outlook.  That is, a socialist believes that the material world - atoms (matter) and energy are all there is to the universe.  No souls, no afterlife, no mysticism.  The best method of seeking truth is the scientific method, in which data and evidence are supreme.

One major goal of socialism is to improve the conditions of life for everyone on Earth, which can only be done by squarely facing reality and its problems, and then solving them.  Religion, along with excessive use of drugs or alcohol, involves refusing to confront reality and seeking refuge in something else - whether through a mythical system of deities, prayer and afterlife, or through mind-altering substances.  Science and socialism unite to face reality and genuinely address the problems facing people, here and now, on Earth.

8. Pro-science.

As noted above, socialism has a firmly pro-science stance.  As Carl Sagan and numerous others have explained much more eloquently than I could, science is not just about performing experiments and collecting data.  It's a way of thinking - skepticism.  Every claim must be analyzed with a skeptical attitude, and evidence must be presented.  Nothing can be conclusively proven as 100% true, but it can be disproved, and all claims must be subject to being disproved.  If it cannot be disproved by any conceivable evidence or experiment, then the claim is worthless - which is why religion is not a valid belief system.

By way of example, Darwin formulated the theory of natural selection and evolution over 150 years ago, after collecting a great deal of evidence in its favor, and since then countless scientists have collected more data.  The theory could conceivably be disproved one day, but over the past century and a half, no data has ever surfaced that has contradicted it.  (To the contrary, e.g., Darwin knew nothing about genes and DNA - but once they were discovered, they fit perfectly in with the theory of evolution and actually helped explain how it works even better, creating what is known as the "modern synthesis.")

9. A belief that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are essentially identical, and a new independent third party is necessary.

This remains one of the most persistent and stubborn illusions in the left wing in America today.  Many Americans who consider themselves liberal, progressive, left, or even communist or socialist end up voting Democratic because it's the lesser of two evils.  Sure, John Kerry or Barack Obama are nowhere near liberal enough for many people, but they're better than Bush or McCain, right?  This is the deadly mistake so many people make.

First of all, for all practical purposes, they're not better.  On a scale of 0 (absolutely socialist) to 100 (right-wing fascist), Bush was maybe a 90 and Kerry an 88, or so.  Obama would be a 90, too, or maybe higher - these numbers are arbitrary, but you get the general idea.  On many specific issues, Obama is actually to the right of Bush.  State secrecy and national security, for example, or adding even more troops into Afghanistan.  Did you know that there are more troops combined in Iraq and Afghanistan today - because of Obama's escalation in troops twice - than at ANY point during the Bush administration?  Did you know Obama has assassinated far more civilians with unmanned predator drones in Pakistan than Bush ever did?  Many people think that because Obama is black and in the Democratic Party, he must be liberal.  False.

The bigger picture, though, is that there are broader social, economic, and historical forces at work here.  This would necessitate a much lengthier essay to explain, but suffice it to say that America has been on a certain trajectory for decades now (growing steadily more conservative in politics, with a declining economy and a bigger gap between the rich and poor than ever before).  Both parties are inevitably moving further to the right.  Individuals may make small differences here and there, but ultimately no individual is going to radically shift this huge force of inertia.  As a result, the Democratic Party will never again push through massive liberal reforms like it did in the 1960s and 70s.  It is sterile.  It cannot be "pushed" or "nudged" or pressured; it is beholden to powerful corporate interests.  Thus, the working class needs to take power into its own hands and create an independent new third party, breaking with the Democrats once and for all.

10. Pro-democracy.

Socialism at its core is putting the power into the hands of workers - the vast majority of people - instead of a tiny wealthy elite ruling class.  America is not and never has been a "pure democracy," in which the majority always rules and everyone gets to vote on every major issue.  At best, in theory, it's a representative democracy, with a tiny number of people representing everyone else's interests.  Of course, in reality, they don't really represent us at all; U.S. government officials serve the wealthy and corporate interests.

Socialism not only advocates greater democracy in government - more voting on more issues - but also in the workplace.  In capitalism, nobody even pretends the workplace is democratic.  Workers generally have no say, no vote, on any important issues; there is a strict hierarchy, like in the military, and orders are given and obeyed.  This is degrading and dehumanizing; it is not how a workplace has to be.  Socialism stands for democracy in the workplace as well as in government.