What is socialism?
2016 is a huge year for America. With the presidential election fast approaching, the public needs to know about who they are voting for. But not just WHO they are voting for, but WHAT they are voting for. One of the most debated theories, that has been backed by candidate Bernie Sanders, is socialism. So what is socialism? Who is for or against this theory? These are the questions we want answers to, and the answers may change your mind on where you stand.
The first thing to know about socialism is what it exactly is, and by defintion socialism is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. But a textbook definition's do not always tell the whole story. The way to fully grasp the socialism as a whole, is to break it down.
Socialism is about equal distribution of the wealth between classes. The means of production are owned by the state, community or the workers (as opposed to privately owned as under Capitalism). [9] It is divided down into two different categories: utopian socialism and revisionist (Marxism) socialism. Both forms began in France in the earlys 1900's because the citizens were tired of capitalism, after the French Revolution. Revisionist or Marxism Socialism is usually referred to as extreme socialism, which is commonly related to Communism. This video tells of socialism as a whole, and what we need to know to understand its concept.
The socialism we are dealing with in this years presedential election, centers around distributing the wealth; including free access to housing, education, and health care. But socialist money must be spent to set up these systems. However, equal distribution of wealth means that you will be paying more in taxes while the government decides where to delegate your money to the free housing, education, and healthcare as discussed earlier. This puts the power solely in the hands of the government. For Bernie Sanders fans this is a positive, and for those who do not support Sanders it's a negtive. Socialism is based off the idea of citizens pulling their own weight, but stastically there is 1 in every 5 Americans living off food stamps, and a staggering number are unemployed.
So who is informed about what socialism actually is? We sent one our HubCity TV reporters out in the field to find out the answer to that very question, and in our search we surveryed millennials from two different college campuses.
A millennial is anyone who was born in the millennial generation,and the millennial generation is anyone who was born from 1980’s onward. The majority of millennials were brought up using digital technology and mass media; they are the children of the baby boomers. [6]Esentially, they are the ones who will control how America is run in the future.
Comic strip artists like to characterize the Millennials focusing on the "free stuff" which sounds nice. However, it seems the millennials have no idea what Socialism actually means.
No one seems to know what Socialism is, but they are voting for it. If you vote socialist or not you should at least be informed about what it is.
According to a national Reason-Rupe survery 53 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds view socialism favorably, compared to only a quarter of Americans over 55. Another and more recent YouGov survey found that 43 percent of respondents younger than 30 viewed socialism favorably, compared to 32 percent thinking favorably of capitalism.
So after hearing the facts we ask you, “What is Socialism and who are you voting for?”
