The other day I was thinking about the problem with talking about socialism. Bernie Sanders and other "democratic socialists" often talk about runaway corporate greed and how much the 1% has vs the 99%. How unfair the system is to regular people.
That's the core of the problem. When you frame it as an issue of "fairness," all these blue collar people, especially in the Midwest and South say, "Oh boo hoo, poor you. Life isn't fair...yadda yadda yadda" Because they're proud, tough, salt-of-the earth people and they don't want "handouts." All that talk about fairness is just liberal elites whining, right?
The Left needs to do what the Right does: wrap it up in the flag. Though the Right loves putting soldiers in harm's way and cutting funding for healthcare, they also love trotting out veterans and flags any chance they get--like the thing with NFL "anthem protests."
The Left should borrow from their playbook and say socialism is good for America. When rich people pay their share of taxes, they're investing in America. They're investing in better schools and roads; cleaner air and water for our children; and yes more secure borders. And for the xenophobes, it means borrowing less money from China. The Koch Brothers and their ilk trying to get out of paying taxes and hoarding money aren't just greedy--they're UNAmerican! They're traitors!
That's how you get all the dupes with flag decals on their pick-up trucks to stop thinking socialism is a dirty word. You have to appeal to their misplaced patriotism, not talk about fairness. That's just a dead-end.
If you want to cite historical precedent, you can go all the way back to the founding of the USA. After the Revolution, the first national government was guided by the Articles of Confederation. It was a loose system without a strong national government. And it was an utter failure. Basically each state was like its own country. It made it a real chore if you wanted to ship goods from Massachusetts to Virginia or something. And it would be really hard to do something like negotiate treaties.
So they replaced it with the Constitution right wingers claim to know and love today. Because the Founding Fathers--those guys on our money--realized there needed to be a strong central authority for some things in order to have a functioning nation. Even Jefferson, who wasn't big on a strong central government, embraced it for the Louisiana Purchase, fighting Barbary Pirates, and his own disastrous trade war. So, what, are all these right wing conservatives and Libertarians are smarter than our Founding Fathers? I don't think so.
Socialism is how we all pitch in and Make America Great For Real. #MAGFR!
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