Why Socialism is the American Dream

With the unexpectedly successful presidential candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders, there is some question on what he means when he calls himself a socialist. No doubt there would be some post-Cold War fear that socialist means communist as many people have made the two terms into synonyms. However, that is not true.

On the political spectrum, if you start at the very right, you have Fascism (think Mussolini and Hitler). Then, you get into the Tea Party and Libertarian (think Ted Cruz and Rand Paul) movements. You move a bit more to the left, you get Standard Republican (most of the Republicans, like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker). Move a bit more to the left, you get Moderate Republican (like George Pataki). Any more left, and you reach the center of the political spectrum - the Independents (a mix of both views - not many politicians fit this view. An early 2000s Trump could fit this view.)

Move to the left a bit more and you get Moderate Democrat (like Jim Webb). A bit more to the left and you get Standard Democrat (most of the Democrats - Hillary Clinton is 3/4 the way between Moderate and Standard Democrat). Move to the left some more, and you get Socialism (Sen. Sanders). Any more to the left, and that's when you get Communism (Fidel Castro, Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, etc.)

Comparing socialism to communism, is like comparing the libertarians and tea partiers to fascists. They aren't that extreme, they are just a bit more extreme than the standards of their party.

Socialism isn't that bad. One of the main parts of socialism is universal health coverage. That means free healthcare for all individuals, regardless of their economic status. Instead of having people who don't make much money not being able to get treatment because of a lack of money, it lets anyone get treatment without having to pay money.

However, this would come directly from our taxes. This is not that bad, though. Think of it as like another Social Security tax - you are paying for your future self basically and helping others also. Plus, another main part of socialism is increasing the taxes on the richest 1% of America to make sure that wealth is evenly distributed without making it that people just get money while not working hard.

Another part of socialism is the minimum wage. Sanders advocates for a $15 minimum wage. Arguments against a higher minimum wage include that it will make people less motivated to work harder or that it will make it harder for small business to employ more employees.

However, you could make a national minimum wage a bit less, like $12 or Obama's proposed $10.10. Then, in areas with a higher cost of living, you could slowly raise their minimum wage. The minimum wage doesn't make people less motivated to work either. In fact, it is the opposite.

$15 would be the bare minimum and if they work harder, they could gain even more. The entire idea of a minimum wage is to create a minimum total that ensures people who work a lot of hours in a week won't be under the poverty line. 

As Sanders stated, "Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty."

I agree to that and I don't know why anyone would disagree.

There are other aspects to socialism, such as having public colleges tuition free and focusing on the reformation of criminals more than the punishment of criminals. However, these three concepts represent the main focus of socialism. Everyone should have a chance to succeed in life if they work hard, no matter which socioeconomic status they belong on.  The American Dream is basically on the same lines. No matter where you come from, if you work hard, you can succeed in America.