Playing the ‘socialism’ card won’t cut it anymore

By Tom Krattenmaker
USA Today, April 9, 2019

Whatever we think of the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and other “socialist” ideas from the Democratic Party’s Bernie Sanders/Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wing, there’s a new reality in town and we’d better get used to it.

It’s no longer a given that anything labeled “socialist” will be immediately rejected as the next of kin to communism and the Soviet Union. As voters in their 20s or 30s might respond, Soviet so what?

Capitalism’s defenders are going to have to make an actual case for capitalism — and make capitalism better while they’re at it.

Over the past decade, there has been a steep decline in the percentage of Americans who see a free-market economy as the optimal way to organize economic life, from 80% to 60%. A 2016 poll found that only  42% of millennials support capitalism.

As Ezra Klein writes in Vox, “In American politics, and particularly in the Democratic Party, the primacy of capitalism is, for the first time in ages, an open question.” 

And why wouldn’t it be?

If you grew up in the greed-is-good ‘80s or before and find the polling numbers shocking, place yourself in young adults’ shoes for a minute and think about how things look from their vantage point.

You’ll see an economic and social system that is making the rich richer and the powerful more powerful while leaving the rest to struggle against ever higher obstacles. Yes, unemployment is low. But many toil in poorly paid jobs that barely keep them fed, clothed and sheltered. Even a home is beyond the means of  some working poor. 

Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest — this was a battle cry of the labor movement in its early years. If only. For many Americans today, the breakdown is more like 10-12 hours labor, two hours commuting, three or four hours of parenting and a TV show, then six or seven hours of sleep. Thank goodness for weekends.

The scarlet letter is ‘S’ for socialism

Then there’s the climate issue.

“Climate change is pressing hard on everyone, but especially the younger generation,” said Martin Hägglund, a Yale professor and author of the new book “This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom,” which includes an unsparing critique of capitalism. “They are the ones who will live long enough to experience the worst effects of climate change.” 

With his book, Hägglund told me, he hopes to help people seize this moment of discontent with capitalism and ask some fundamental questions: How should we live and work together? What are the optimal ways we can organize society to enhance freedom and well-being — and avoid scorching the planet?

That’s a good conversation to have. Unfortunately, to breathe even a word of this is to get yourself tagged with a scarlet letter “S.” Invoking the specter of socialism has been a primary Republican response to the Green New Deal and other progressive policy proposals of late. The GND is a “radical, top-down, socialist makeover of the entire U.S. economy,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell charges. “We believe in the American dream,” President Donald Trump says, “not the socialist nightmare.”

Those are conversation stoppers, not real arguments, and unconvincing at that. For one, more and more people gladly wear the label. Sticks and stones might break their bones, but calling them socialist will never hurt them. Two, dismissing a serious policy idea as “socialist” without explaining how, and what you mean exactly, does not even remotely resemble the kind of serious debate we need to have with society at a crucial inflection point.

Make a case for repairing capitalism

As Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg correctly notes, “The president is adopting a tactic that takes us back to the darkest days of the ’50s when you could use the word ‘socialist’ to kill somebody’s career, or to kill an idea. But that trick has been tried so many times that I think it’s losing all meaning.”

Opponents of progressive politicians and proposals might think they can get by with their lazy reliance on playing the “socialist” card. It won’t work. They will have to get specific if they aim to do more than rile up their already-riled-up conservative base: How are the progressive plans deficient? How is their own approach better?

If you are going to invoke capitalism’s superiority, you’re going to have to account for some of the ways it has been falling down on the job: its role in climate change, for instance, and the reality of new generations finding the system failing them. No, you can’t blame the latter on the up-and-comers being lazy. Because they’re not.

A case for capitalism can certainly be made. Some of those making it are Democratic presidential contenders, Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren among them. They are worth listening to because they are talking not only about capitalism’s selling points but also about the flaws and excesses in the system, and how these can be tempered for the sake of a capitalism that serves more people better.

Capitalism has worked wonders as a means of raising standards of living around the world. But there are cracks in its facade, and its champions are going to have to repair them, not paper them over. Conjuring the Red Menace is not enough.

Tom Krattenmaker, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors and director of communications at Yale Divinity School, is the author of “Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower.” Follow him on Twitter: @TKrattenmaker