These people would probably die of convulsions if you pointed out to them that It’s A Wonderful Life has a pro-socialism, anti-capitalism message.
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Is something being owned, funded and run by the state really enough to characterise it as socialist? Is the CIA socialist in nature? The Church of England? The circus in ancient Rome?
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The capitalist version of this is market making for low volatility stocks and underwriting for insurance. You can prefer free enterprise and still realize that profit is not enough incentive for a dentist to move to Alaska or for a obstetrician to be less than two hours away in rural Canada.
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And it wold put me at the very top if I lived on the moon alone.
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The problem is “socialism” is such a vague word. Does it mean simply providing needed services where the market doesn’t work, as roads, Medicare, and apparently this grocery store, provide? Or actually destroying capitalism? These are two very different concepts and while certainly right-wingers like to claim that they are the same to harm any attempt at expanding social services, there actually are people who at least claim to want to “smash capitalism”, so it isn’t entirely a straw-man version of socialism.
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but it’s “not socialism”
Ok Florida!
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Also, I’m ok with it as long as they recognize that, say, municipal broadband in my city would be similarly “not socialist,” but I’m almost sure they wouldn’t.
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Wait, “MEDICADE”? Is that like a motorcade for medicine?
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When life gives you medics…
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It’s a very popular govment program.
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Only if you obtusely and intentionally ignore buying power and cost of living. Otherwise you’re just taking the “they all have fridges” argument that conservatives make to avoid helping poor people, and putting a wokeness veneer on it.
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That is generally how the American libertarian far right (increasingly the only American right) views it, yes. They believe the government should cease to exist except for horse-riding county sheriffs who have immunity to go around shooting brown people.
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If it were REALLY socialist they wouldn’t have a whole aisle of chips and other salty, greasy snack food.
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The population of England has a right-wing authoritarian streak a mile wide, which is what decides most of Garbage Island’s elections in favor of the goddamn Tories. But, mostly due to the fluke 1945 election and the extraordinarily effective socialist government it installed, Garbage Island has a number of flat-out socialist institutions to this day, most notably the NHS, which is extremely popular with everyone due to the fact that it’s an objectively very good idea.
The way that the far-right press (aka “the press”) squares this circle is to misrepresent things like unemployment benefits as charity. That means Daily Mail readers get to pretend they’re good people (which they aren’t), plus, they get a cheaap unlimited pass to sit in fiery judgment over anyone who ever went on the dole. (Needless to say, the benefits claimed by those same Daily Mail readers themselves are easily waved away).
This thinking is politically toxic – I won’t say it’s worse than no welfare at all, but it almost might be. And I think this is why it’s important to be clear when something is capital-S Socialism. Because the defining feature of socialism, as opposed to “charity” or “economic stimulus” or whatever, is the everyone part. Genuinely socialist programs support, and are supported by, everyone. They don’t humiliate one group to flatter another. If a benefit is means-tested, then people who believe they are net contributors will see the test itself as the thing they’re paying for, and demand that it be made crueler and crueler. That’s exactly what has happened with unemployment benefits, whereas the (genuinely socialist) NHS has stayed largely free of that kind of ugliness.
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When listerine had the mouthwash market all to themselves, sales were pretty slim. It wasn’t until scope came on the market, and the two brands got to duke it out on television, that sales for both brands went through to roof.
The Red brand and the Blue brand have a similar dynamic. They both do best when they can point to each other as the only alternative. In the “whats wrong with Kansas?” narrative, its just assumed that lefty democrat agendas will crowd out right wing agendas, if people get smart enough to vote in their own best interests.
I am getting very tired of this circular logic, that somehow this is an authentic democracy, and we get the leadership we so richly deserve. Its a veiled, mean spirited attack on democracy-no matter which color team its aimed at.
I’m happy that socialist mail and socialist roads have been joined by socialist grocery stores. Not so happy to hear this “stupid voter” rhetoric again.
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That’s not how you stay rich.
And don’t even try to bring Jesus up…
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The original photo is of an Aldi store in Newington, Connecticut.
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