Afraid of America becoming socialist?

Talk to Americans these days, particularly older ones and you’ll come away thinking that if capitalism was a super hero, socialism might be its arch-enemy.

Thankfully, socialism is enjoying, once again, a resurgence. It’s been talked about by hippies forever, and now millennials are taking up its flag. Thanks largely to father time and Bernie Sanders, young Americans are not just warming up to the socialist agenda, they are strongly in favor of it.

For good reason: they weren’t brainwashed like their parents.

So says Zach Carter in his article Relax, Boomers: Socialism Is Good Now. 

Bottom line: Socialism is here to stay.

Like blacks, women, gay and transgender people and everything else the far right tries to stamp out, socialism not going anywhere. Fear may keep you from opening your mind to it, but fear is not going to serve you as socialism takes a larger hold among young Americans. Indeed, socialism is taking its place in American culture. The same way blacks, women, gay and transgender people, and everything else the far right tries to stamp out, has taken their place in American culture: through sheer force of will held by young people.

So when I read Zach’s piece describing how socialism became evil in baby boomers’ minds, I had to share. Yes, it’s published in a progressive newspaper, but the message is clear: Baby Boomers: chill out. You’ve been duped. Socialism is good for you and for America.

I love this:

“The Baby Boomers are the worst American generation since Reconstruction, but they had many reasons to turn out this way. The Boomers were raised in a political culture dominated by madmen, their minds warped at an early age. For decades, Boomers saw the term “socialism” deployed not to denote a set of economic policies, but to conjure a vague, foreign horror. Accustomed to this nomenclature, Boomers have reacted with fright or at least confusion to the terminology of today’s American left, which has embraced the “socialist” label more widely than any domestic political movement in living memory. But the Boomers need to relax. Socialism is good now.”

American political culture is still dominated by madmen (and women) in my opinion. Not sure that’s going to change much because of the nature of politics.

But at least we can celebrate the new face of socialism, which, in my opinion has a fighting chance because she far more readily represents younger generations than the father-time-resembling Bernie Sanders.

No offense Bernie.

The new face of socialism

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist, on June 26, this year, won the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th congressional district. She defeated the democratic incumbent in an apparently unexpected upset during the midterm-election season. I’ve already seen and heard her name around the internet. I suspect this new socialist incarnation has much better legs than its predecessor. Not her actual legs. Her metaphorical/political ones.

There’s a lot about her (finally) in Wikipedia. And while politics has a way of changing people for the worse, or killing them outright, I still think what she represents is compelling: a change towards something better.

It may not be as good as Copiosis, but it’s heading in the right direction. And as I’ve always said, anything that heads in the right direction we’ll take here at Copiosis as an ally.

As far as super heroes go, I think capitalism is a mixed bag. Kinda like The Tick maybe. Socialism still has some proving to do, but as Zach says, it’s certainly nothing to fear. And it’s certainly not capitalism’s arch-enemy.

So calm down.