Originally published on LinkedIn on February 4, 2020

There’s a tendency nowadays to label every government program, regulation, and policy as socialism, a menace akin to cancer with the propensity to destroy countries, demotivate citizens, quash capitalism, and extinguish freewill.

Okay, I exaggerated. My embellishment, however, isn’t more outlandish than denying aspects of American institutions are akin to socialism.

The definition of socialism is a system that advocates the means of production, distribution, and exchange be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. You simply need to look at farm subsidies, which compensate farmers for not planting crops or offsets trade deficits to garner a snapshot of how socialism is rooted in U.S. policies. Twenty-eight billion “socialistic farm subsidy” dollars over the past two years.[1]

Multiplying the benefits

I’m not against socialism. I applaud its altruistic outcomes. As the saying goes, “A rising tide floats all boats.” When aid is given to those in need, it flows across entire communities. Farmers who continue producing crops – and not declare bankruptcy – can hire workers, purchase seeds and farm implements, and frequent local businesses.

The multiplier effect of government spending (and in the same vein, increased wages) is powerful. The more disposable income people have, the more they can spend in their communities. If a wealthy person receives an additional $200,000, they might purchase more goods or maintain the same level of spending. But divide $200,000 across 50 low-income families and they each have $333 more per month to inject into the economy, purchasing more goods and services, and reducing the strain on social programs, such as food pantries and temporary housing.

Going a step further, making healthcare, higher education and job training more accessible and affordable generates the same positive effects. If people aren’t burdened with paying off exorbitant student loans and medical bills, they have more disposable income, fueling the economy. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), consumer spending made up 68% of the economy in 2019, including two-thirds for housing and healthcare.[2]

Imagine the multiplier if Americans were able to spend less on healthcare and more on goods and services. Instead of American malls being abandoned, downtown areas turning into ghost towns, and Detroit struggling to sell cars, they might be thriving.

Recognizing the value of government agencies

The concept of the “welfare state” is an aspect of democratic socialism, combining democracy with welfare and capitalism, to promote the economic and social well-being of citizens, based on the principles of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility to care for citizens who can’t attain the basic necessities.

Government programs like food stamps, Social Security, and Medicare, agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Forest Service, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with programs targeted to everyday citizens like public libraries, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fall under the welfare state umbrella.

Many of these programs are cherry-picked and bandied as unnecessary. For instance, PBS is often slated as superfluous given the availability and breadth of network and cable channels, However, over 86% of Americans watch PBS, which provides educational resources, access to the arts, and community programming. When an environmental, climate or health crisis occurs, the value of these national programs and agencies becomes more apparent.

The outbreak of the coronavirus illustrates the need to support the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite these agencies’ hair-trigger responses and those by similar ones around the world, specifically those in China, there’s been over 20,00 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide with more than 425 fatalities. The ability to rapidly identify and respond to potential pandemics isn’t possible with disconnected local and statewide agencies.

The same is true for food and drug safety. In December 2019, there were six nationwide food recalls, which doesn’t sound like a lot, unless you’re the one who happens to eat the tainted food. Last May, Tyson Food pulled over 11 million pounds of chicken strips when bits of metal were found in several incidents. One of the worse cases of foodborne illness outbreaks was in 2011 when 33 people died from eating cantaloupes contaminated with listeria, and an additional 147 people were infected in 28 states.[3]

While air travel is the safest way to get from point A to point B, if you happen to be on a plane that wasn’t adequately maintained and inspected, the outcome could be fatal, such as the April 17, 2018 Southwest Airlines New York to Dallas flight in which an engine failure caused a fan blade to separate from the engine hub, and subsequently pierce the plane’s fuselage.

A government report revealed Southwest Airlines flew more than 17 million passengers on planes with unconfirmed maintenance records, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had been lax, ineffective and inconsistent.[4] The issue centered on the FAA managers in the Dallas-area office who supervised Southwest planes. They routinely overlooked safety issues and depended too heavily on data generated by Southwest, which may have not been accurate.

Summing up socialism

Thankfully, Southwest’s negligence resulted in relatively few accidents. The Wells Fargo Bank executive who died after being struck by shrapnel on the 2018 Southwest flight was the first fatality on an U.S. airline since 2009.

That’s not a bad record.

It’s a record that speaks to the value of federal oversight in our everyday lives from workplace policies to the safety of the cars we drive, money we deposit, contracts we sign, and food we eat. Socialism in the context of democracy helps ensure the rights, dignity and safety of all citizens, regardless of their socioeconomic status. It embraces the role of education to advance societies, healthcare as a human right, and housing as a necessity, even if it means allocating public funds to make them accessible to everyone.

Thank you to Anna Dziubinska for her photo on Unsplash

The inspiration for this article came together within a few minutes of my booting up my computer. I’d received an email from a food industry publication discussing the continuing issue of E. coli in raw flour. One of the leading stories on news sites was the lax inspection of Southwest Airlines planes. Also being reported was the rapid spread of coronavirus. None of these issues can be solved at a local, state or industry-wide level. And while having oversight and regulatory agencies aren’t socialism per se, they’re often portrayed as unnecessary government overreach. The alternative, however, is frightening.

[1] U.S. farm bankruptcies rise 20 percent in 2019 despite federal aid, UPI, Sommer Brokaw, January 30, 2020, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/01/30/US-farm-bankruptcies-rise-20-percent-in-2019-despite-federal-aid/6891580410703/

[2] Consumer Spending Statistics and Current Trends, The Balance, Kimberly Amadeo, January 30, 2020, https://www.thebalance.com/consumer-spending-trends-and-current-statistics-3305916

[3] 31 Worst Food Recalls of All Time, 24/7 Wall St, Cheyenne Buckingham and John Harrington, June 10, 2019, https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/06/10/31-worst-food-recalls-of-all-time/7/

[4] Southwest Failed to Prioritize Safety, Government Says, The Wall Street Journal, Andy Pasztor, Alison Sider, https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/southwest-failed-to-prioritize-safety-government-says/ar-BBZtzXR?li=BBnb7Kz