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Albania, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Greece these are only a few counties where the United States has supported fascist authoritarian governments in order to combat communism. Anti-communist sentiments continue to reverberate in American politics. Today, the political theory of socialism is under siege as some fear a larger central government and loss of economic freedoms. Under democratic socialism, citizens collectively own and distribute resources through a democratically elected government. In America, democratic socialism is popularized as simply socialism.

While Republicans politicians may claim that this idea is very popular amongst American liberals, this theory is not actually widely supported across America. Contrastingly, fascism and its many characteristics, including high militarization and hypernationalism, pose a greater threat to American democracy than socialism. Although we are not likely to see the emergence of a socialist or fascist government in the present age, we have already witnessed the seeds of fascism in American politics.

We must be aware of how fascism arose in the past to understand why fascism is more relevant than ever. In the 1930s in Western Europe, fascism arose from the ashes of economic collapse and imminent war. These are pre-conditions for government dependency as a solution, or disillusion with the current government. America is currently experiencing these conditions following a pandemic and economic collapse. Whether Americans will simply demand a government solution or a new government structure and what the structure would look like remains in contention.

Despite defeating fascist powers during World War II, there is a disturbing resurgence of fascist rhetoric in America ignited by President Donald Trump. To preface, many experts agree Trump is not a fascist. Rather, some political scientists prefer the terms populist or kleptocrat. Regardless, the need to even clarify his ideological alignment is concerning. The danger lies in how the Trump administration has embraced the semblance of fascism in speech and policy. For example, Trump exudes ultranationalism in speeches and has dismissed political dissidents. Some Democrats even claim Trump attempted to suppress political opposition by withholding funds from the U.S. Postal Service during an election cycle heavily reliant on mail-in voting.

These examples are distressing, however perhaps not as distressing as the infamous Executive Order 13769 or Trumps Muslim Ban. Within fascist ideology, there is often a disdain for human rights, and this order was specifically condemned by the United Nations as a human rights violation. The disregard and outright violation of human rights should concern all Americans and place the limits of democracy into question. We must consider whether weve reached the boundaries of representative democracy or if America has become desensitized to fascism. Especially, if the NO BAN act the bill created in opposition and as a response to the executive order dies in the Senate.

Conversely, socialism is not nearly as prevalent in current American politics. Historically, the Great Depression led many Americans to become disenchanted with capitalism, and under New Deal legislation, President Franklin Roosevelt passed several socialist-like policies such as social security. But in recent decades, weve seen the increasing resistance against socialist reforms from both moderate Democrats and Republicans. This trend, along with an anti-communist past, suggests that Americans may not accept socialism as a solution.

America has a complicated and often violent political history of militarism, imperialism, colonialism and nationalism. However, America has repeatedly demonized communism on American soil with the First Red Scare of 1919 and the McCarthy trials of the 1950s. Globally, America enacted military interventions and staged coup d'tats throughout and after the Cold War. Simultaneoulsy, America supported anti-communist militant dictators and regimes that perpetuated human rights abuses. If history is any indicator of the future, the American populace remains vehemently opposed or at least resistant to socialism. With the selection of former Vice President Joe Biden as the democratic nominee as opposed to Senator Bernie Sanders, it has become clear that even Democrats are not ready for a socialist leader. Despite the current trend of a rising population of young voters supporting socialism being a valid concern, there is subsequently a trend of electing older and older presidents, and opposition to socialism often increases with age.

In addition to the resistance of socialism among Democractic voters, there is even less support among politicians in Congress. Implementation of American socialism would require the unification of progressives and moderates, as well as the agreement of many Republicans. This is not likely to occur, at the very least, within the next four years. Additionally, progressive Democrats comprise a small fraction of Congress. Most are moderate Democrats who do not advocate for socialism, only agreeing with certain policies. The progressive agenda, including universal healthcare and the Green New Deal, continue to face resistance from moderate Democrats. Therefore, it is unlikely Congress would fully support truly socialist policies such as worker control.

Whether Trump wins the election or not, he has pushed the boundaries of democracy for himself while retracting it for many citizens. Trumps maneuvering of political roadblocks and what little power the opposition was able to exercise is disturbing and sets a precedent for future presidents. We, as the American people, must eliminate signs of fascism in its stead. We must protect the rights of minority groups, of women and of political opposition. As evidenced by history, fascism will not go away quietly. What has impeded the rise of fascist principles have been social movements led by the people. As citizens, as voters and as the American people, we have a moral obligation to squash fascism. We must extend the boundaries of our representative democracy, pushing against the roadblocks imposed by bureaucracy and partisan divide. We must be unafraid of change, unafraid of justice and unafraid of reform for the prosperity of current and future generations.

Yssis Cano-Santiago is a Viewpoint Writer for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com

The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.

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CANO-SANTIAGO: Fascism is a more legitimate threat to American democracy than socialism - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Editor:

Theres so much confusion of economics with political systems. Can there be authoritarianism with a more or less socialist economic system? Sure. Its called state capitalism, although we tend to call it communism. Like Eden since the Fall, Marxist paradise has never been tried out. Its lost.

Can there be authoritarianism with a more or less capitalist economic system? Sure. Its called fascism. Ditto in the other direction, a more or less socialist economic system with a democratic form of government, confusingly called socialism, and a more or less capitalist economic system with a democratic form of government, confusingly called democracy.

So because Cuba, whence I come, is mired in the tyranny of communism does not mean that socialist countries in which democracy is the form of government cannot exist. The U.S. has had socialist elements for a long time, from public schools to public highways, from Social Security to Medicare and Medicaid. Some countries, notably European ones but also elsewhere, have more substantial socialist underpinnings.

Socialism does not mean tyranny. Tyranny means tyranny.

Alberto Cacicedo

Reading

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Letter: Let's clear up confusion over nature of socialism - Reading Eagle

Image by James Yang / The Chronicle

Socialism is when the state controls the means of production. That is, owns the factories and such where people work.

America is nothing like a socialist state at all. We are a democratic republic of states with a capitalist economy. No one wants to change that. Not even Bernie Sanders, who Ill admit made a grave marketing error in deciding to call himself a Democratic Socialist, opening the door for all uneducated alarmists to align him and anyone with the term social in their make-up, as communists which is, again, totally different from socialism.

Equating taxes that would allow everyone in the country to have health care, higher education, and housing to socialism is bunk. We pay taxes for schools, libraries, police departments, fire departments, roads, airports ports and the military. If taxes are socialist, then the U.S. military is the largest and most expensive socialist organization in the world. And everyone seems to have been fine with that since the middle of the last century.

Get a clue people. Look up the definitions of words once in a while. Stop buying into the propaganda.

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Letter: What socialism really is | Opinion | thechronicleonline.com - St. Helens Chronicle

President Donald Trumps unrelenting effort this election cycle to cast Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as a socialist appears to have paid off in the crucial swing state of Florida. Though polling suggested Biden was slightly favored to win Floridas 29 electoral votes, Trump endured on Tuesday night, carrying the state with more than 51% of the vote.

Pivotal to Trumps victory in the Sunshine State was strong support from the Latino voting bloc in South Floridas Miami-Dade County, which includes a sizable population of Cuban-Americans who are sensitive to accusations of socialism because of their historical antagonism to Fidel Castros communist regime.

While former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton carried Miami-Dade by a margin of 30 points last cycle, Trumps messaging including a recent tweet characterizing Biden as a proven Castro puppet seems to have been effective in convincing some voters to tilt Republican.

I believe the steady messaging around socialism is one of the primary reasons why Democrats did so poorly in Miami-Dade, Justin Day, a Democratic strategist in Florida, told Jewish Insider in an email. It led to Biden losing the state and the loss of two congressional seats.

Reps. Donna Shalala (D-FL) and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), first-term incumbents who assumed office last year and represented districts in Miami-Dade County, also fell on Tuesday night and had faced harsh criticism from Republican opponents who sought to portray them as socialists. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Cuban-American former TV journalist who defeated Shalala, was persistent throughout her campaign in accusing the Democratic congresswoman of harboring socialist sympathies.

Shalala, a former longtime president of the University of Miami, did herself no favors when she described herself as a pragmatic socialist in a recent interview with a local NBC station. She later claimed that she meant to say pragmatic capitalist and simply misspoke, but Salazar seized on the blunder.

We had the opportunity to expose who my opponent really is, Salazar told JI in an interview last week in which she confidently predicted that she would win her election with the support of Hispanic Democrats in the district.

Ron Klein, a former Florida congressman who chairs the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said that Spanish-language advertisements in Florida tying Biden to socialism seem to have had a negative impact on the Democratic candidates prospects in Miami-Dade County.

The Biden campaign dismissed such rhetoric and even released its own ads to dispel the accusations, while Biden, a moderate Democrat, claimed outright that he was not a socialist. But such efforts appear to have fallen short in Florida.

It seems like the Biden campaign didnt push back hard enough, Klein told JI.

That wasnt the only problem Biden had in Florida on election night, according to Klein, who added his belief that Democratic turnout in South Florida could have been stronger to offset Republican support in the rest of the state. Its math in Florida, Klein said. Its a complicated formula.

But Day, the Democratic strategist, said that Democrats would have to find a more effective way to counter accusations of socialism if they want to win future elections.

If Democrats dont figure out a message to push back on the socialist narrative, he said, we are going to have a hard time finding success in Florida.

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Fear of socialism believed to have hindered Biden's shot at taking Florida - Jewish Insider

We are on the precipice of Election Day Nov. 3, 2020. Most mail-in ballots have been cast and plans have been made on how to get to ones polling station. While this election has been on the minds of most Americans for the past four years, none of us could have imagined it like this.

Our country is in the midst of coinciding crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic recession comparable in severity to 2008. Now that the CARES Act has reached its conclusion, Americans are facing indefinite unemployment with little to no federal assistance. Evictions have begun en masse across the country as people struggle to scrape enough money together to pay rent while buying food for their family and covering other bills. The threat of coronavirus looms heavily over a largely uninsured or underinsured working class. In particular, Black and brown families suffer the most from our governments failure to accommodate the people during this unprecedented time.

This miserable situation calls for a vast socialist program and organizing a coalition to pass policies such as Medicare for All and Housing for All. Yet, we are stuck choosing between two capitalists whose loyalties belong to their corporate donors above all else. There is a clear distinction between the two candidates: while a vote for Trump is a vote for fascism, racism and xenophobia, a vote for Biden is a return to normal.

But a return to normal will not solve our countrys most pressing needs. The normal that predated Trump sanctioned police brutality and institutional racism against the Black community, created an existential climate crisis with record-breaking temperatures and natural disasters and fostered the conditions that allowed Trump to come to power in the first place.

Many young people feel frustrated and disillusioned with the electoral system, having to choose between two candidates who largely dont represent their beliefs. They feel as if they have no control over the future of the nation.

Thats why we founded our Students for Bernie chapter and organized for a Bernie Sanders presidency last year. We had a vision of a radically different future where the multiracial working class was entitled to a more comprehensive set of economic, social and political rights. When the Sanders campaign came to an end, we knew our organizing couldnt stop. We had to carry on this movement and bring about the political revolution ourselves. So we merged with Yale Young Democratic Socialists of America.

YDSA is the youth section of DSA the nations largest socialist organization, recently numbering 75,000 members. DSA is not a political party, but rather a mass-membership organization of dedicated, lifelong socialists who focus on building working-class power through a variety of means. There are two crucial components to DSAs strategy: workplace organizing and electoral politics.

Socialists view the workplace as a site of strategic leverage to fight for both better working conditions and higher wages and benefits, as well as our broader program of racial, economic and social justice. Those in positions of power depend on workers and production; when this work stops, they are forced to meet the demands of the workers if they want to continue making a profit. The act of organizing is inherently intimidating to those in the capitalist class because they recognize the immense power of collective action. This is not merely theory. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, DSA has partnered with United Electrical to form the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee that has helped workers unite to win COVID-19-related demands across the country.

While socialists primarily build power from workplace organizing, we recognize that law-making power is necessary to represent the working class. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, as well as candidates Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, are democratic socialists. Their electoral successes have been bolstered by local DSA chapters.

Although we look forward to expelling a fascist from office in the coming days, the election of Joe Biden will not make any substantial improvements in our lives or the lives of our loved ones. Our communities still need universal healthcare, a living wage, affordable housing and the end to systemic racism and oppression. If Joe Biden wins, we will celebrate the survival of our democracy on Nov. 3 and recommit ourselves to socialist organizing on Nov. 4. Socialism is a movement of solidarity that finds strength in community and support from others in whatever form they may take. During this time of social isolation and a gloomy electoral future, socialism reminds us that we stand together in our fight.

ARIA FALCONE is a junior in Silliman College. MELAT ESKENDER is a sophomore in Morse College. They are both on the organizing committee of Yale YDSA. Contact them at aria.falcone@yale.edu and melat.eskender@yale.edu.

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FALCONE & ESKENDER: The 2020 election and a socialist future - Yale Daily News