Socialism
The traditional American conservative is characterized by two viewpoints: a strong pro-military stance and an antipathy to economic socialism. I'm sure there are exceptions, but we can surely agree that these two viewpoints are very strongly correlated.
I've always found this amusing, because the US military is arguably the biggest and most socialist institution ever created in this country!
Don't believe me? Look at it this way. What does the military do? It protects us against invasion, right? They provide this service to everyone living here. How do we pay for this service? Through our taxes. Are you protected only if you pay? No, the military protects even the jobless who don't pay a dime in taxes. But the more you do earn, the more of the military's costs you're expected to pay. Yet you get no better protection than those who don't pay anything.
Protection to each according to their needs; from each according to their means. That's not just socialism, it's communism!
Of course, today's US military is in reality mainly about self-perpetuation and the enrichment of the "Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex", as Eisenhower originally meant to say. If it were only as large as it actually had to be to protect the country against invasion, as opposed to fighting wars of choice around the world, it could easily be a tenth of its size. Or smaller.
But the supporters of a strong military will insist that every dime we spend on the military is essential to the common defense. So we should just remind them occasionally that "common" is the root word for "communism".
I have a serious point here. Nearly everyone who argues against "socialism" as something inherently evil and un-American simply doesn't know what they're talking about. We have always had institutions, supported with tax money, that provide services to everyone regardless of an ability to pay. Besides the military, unfortunately the largest such institution by far, we also have public schools, libraries, roads, local police and fire protection, and so on. They're available to everyone at taxpayer expense because we've decided that it's in everyone's interest that everyone have access to these services.
So when you hear a wingnut or dittohead ranting about President Obama turning the US toward socialism, ask if they support military spending.
The real issue isn't socialism per se. It's what the government spends its money on. The wingnuts certainly disagree, but I for one would much rather have the government spend money -- even wastefully -- on roads, schools, hospitals, scientific research, mass transportation, alternative energy, healthcare for children, education; nearly ANYTHING but self-destructive and pointless wars in far-off countries.
I've always found this amusing, because the US military is arguably the biggest and most socialist institution ever created in this country!
Don't believe me? Look at it this way. What does the military do? It protects us against invasion, right? They provide this service to everyone living here. How do we pay for this service? Through our taxes. Are you protected only if you pay? No, the military protects even the jobless who don't pay a dime in taxes. But the more you do earn, the more of the military's costs you're expected to pay. Yet you get no better protection than those who don't pay anything.
Protection to each according to their needs; from each according to their means. That's not just socialism, it's communism!
Of course, today's US military is in reality mainly about self-perpetuation and the enrichment of the "Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex", as Eisenhower originally meant to say. If it were only as large as it actually had to be to protect the country against invasion, as opposed to fighting wars of choice around the world, it could easily be a tenth of its size. Or smaller.
But the supporters of a strong military will insist that every dime we spend on the military is essential to the common defense. So we should just remind them occasionally that "common" is the root word for "communism".
I have a serious point here. Nearly everyone who argues against "socialism" as something inherently evil and un-American simply doesn't know what they're talking about. We have always had institutions, supported with tax money, that provide services to everyone regardless of an ability to pay. Besides the military, unfortunately the largest such institution by far, we also have public schools, libraries, roads, local police and fire protection, and so on. They're available to everyone at taxpayer expense because we've decided that it's in everyone's interest that everyone have access to these services.
So when you hear a wingnut or dittohead ranting about President Obama turning the US toward socialism, ask if they support military spending.
The real issue isn't socialism per se. It's what the government spends its money on. The wingnuts certainly disagree, but I for one would much rather have the government spend money -- even wastefully -- on roads, schools, hospitals, scientific research, mass transportation, alternative energy, healthcare for children, education; nearly ANYTHING but self-destructive and pointless wars in far-off countries.