By Marc W. Polite
During the State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump addressed a number of issues. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on one aspect of the speech.
“Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country” –
Obviously referring to politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, President Trump went on to affirm the pro capitalist values of this country, and fear monger about the groundswell of public support for a more radical alternative to pressing social concerns.
“We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”
First of all, this country was not born free, it was built on slave labor and genocide. Which all happened through domination and coercion- centuries of it. Second, this writer finds it very interesting that these remarks come at such a time.
Now, think about this for a moment. The president of the United States, during the State of the Union address has to publicly affirm that America will never adapt socialism. It’s not just because of the political challenges that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez represent to the American right, but also the ever increasing amount of people who are talking openly about socialism and its potentialities.
I’m glad to see that socialism is being discussed as a living movement. It opens up a number of conversations that were previously closed off.
In America, due to the history of Mccarthyism- socialism and communism were dirty words. That was maintained via suppression, and the hostility was sopped up in large part because of the possibility for some to have an adequate standard of living- ironically through subsidies. We’re in a different stream now. With a falling standard of living, failing infrastructures, and an environment of unnecessary scarcity, to this generation socialism doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.
There is an emerging conversation about the damage that calcifying wealth is wreaking on this country. This is why billionaires like Howard Schultz are concerned about calls for taxing the rich at a 70 percent rate.
Karl Marx grave was vandalized, and the president of the United States is railing against socialism on the same day. That specter is haunting the world once again. Never is a pretty strong word.
What I want people to understand is that Trump in this address is not just speaking for himself- he is speaking to the unstated fears of much of the ruling class. This is exactly what they don’t want. It’s not just two elected officials they’re worried about.
If the president of the United States has to rail against the idea of socialism coming to pass here,then that indicates a certain amount of fear. This is major.
As to the sense of alarm expressed towards the calls for socialism to be embraced.. I say.. GOOD. Let them tremble.