During Barack Obama’s presidency, an unplanned speech the former president gave in the spring of 2015 gave Americans a notion that he and his party were vocalizing the democratic party’s intentions to prepare modern America for socialism (Gregory). In his speech, he spoke of the lesser-developed nations of Latin America, as compared to the United States. In Paul R. Gregory’s article, President Obama complimented the universal healthcare system in Cuba, calling it a “huge achievement” (Gregory). America’s last democratic president would have liked to implement more socialistic ideals into the American society (Gregory). This is shown by his left-wing bias and due to his foreign engorgement to Latin America to construct socialist economic systems (Gregory). Furthermore, many of America’s youth are proving to be ideologically socialist. For example, the 2016 presidential election’s most distinguished socialist candidate was Bernie Sanders; one of Sanders’ primary support groups was America’s voting youth. Modern views in America are beginning to shift to a more socialist form of economy, but true socialism cannot thrive in America because of the unique American culture.
Karl Marx defines socialism in his manifesto as a state of transition from a previously disbanded capitalist system to the total adoption of a communist system (a system where all means of production is controlled by the government, whereas every citizen has the same income) (97). Marx describes socialism as “…half lamentation, half lampoon; half echo of the past, half menace of the future” to show how socialism is a medium between capitalism and devout communism (97). Ignoring socialism’s transitional definition, socialism is a state where a portion of all goods and services in a nation are produced by the national government. In a socialist state, government help and welfare is widely accepted socially and used by its citizens in order to combat poverty. Furthermore, the extremely rich are taxed heavily and rich people are much more rare in a socialist system than in a capitalist one. Furthermore, the middle class is an enormous body in a socialist system (Larabell). Socialism or socialism-esque systems are popular in Europe, however, Northern Europe is most extreme with socialistic ideals (Larabell).
On the contrary, America uses a capitalist economic system. Capitalism is defined by the limited amount of governmental involvement in an economy, or Laissez-Fare. With the slim to no governmental intervention, people are dependent upon themselves more in a capitalist system than a socialist system, a welfare is both harder to receive and is culturally negative. Likewise, people are responsible for earning their own money. Hard work in a capitalist system can usher substantial pay-offs. For example, capitalism is the system that generated the American Dream. The American Dream states that somebody with little to no ownership of capital that works hard in the American capitalist system can not only gain enough money to live off of, but can become rich. The American Dream is responsible for American workers’ superior speed and diligence as compared that of European workers.
Democratic politicians and America’s youth are part of the many groups of Americans who are vocal on their preference of a socialist system over a capitalist one. This is due to the sudden sympathy of impoverished people and a newfound despotic view of corporate America. People now, more so than ever before, are beginning to discount capitalism because of its infamous ability to create losers in a society. Millennials are the captains of the “no loser” mindset and now wish for an economic system to eliminate the term “loser” once and for all (Larabell). Members of this ideology ultimately wish for small business to be the heart of America, and for there to be a an unemployment rate of 0, where everyone is a member of the middle class. Although most Americans do not share such an extreme view, it is still among the American population and is growing in support. Capitalism in America is in danger as this group continues to grow in size (Larabell).
Even though this view is gaining support, a total shift to economic equality is impossible in America as American’s minds are bred to think in a capitalist manner. For instance, one of America’s biggest political debates is over taxation. People wish to pay as little tax a possible, as it is reasonable to believe that one would want to pay as little percentage as possible from their paycheck to the government. However, in a capitalist system taxation is significantly higher, as the government assumes the role of business in the economy, providing goods and services to its citizens, by the mode of high taxation.
Furthermore, Americanism is the primary reason socialism cannot exist in America. Americanism is a term so complex that it has no condense definition that is also coherent. Americanism’s one of many definitions is an American’s view that no one is better than him or her because of material items or wealth. In America, visual wealth does not define anything except one’s infrugality. In America, it is widely accepted that one could theoretically work hard enough to obtain just as much wealth as one that is rich visually. This is a description of class conscious, which is virtually non-existent in America. On the contrary, Europeans typically measure class and wealth to be coterminal. This cultural aspect is to mean that if Americans were to be engulfed in an economic system similar to that in Europe, then their cultural values would be trampled on, as capitalism is the system where Americanist cultural views incubate and grow to their fullest potential, satisfying the people who obtain those values.
An aspect of Americanism is the acceptance that there have to be winners and losers (Dreyfuss). No matter how hard one tries to eradicate the notion of losing, they are simply overcoating reality. The basic laws of life and evolution revolve around the fact of Darwin: the strongest organisms survive, and the weak perish. As distant as Darwin’s claims seem to be from economic laws may seem, they are actually closely related. For instance, it is impossible for an economy to grow if there is no drastic variation of income among the people (Gregory). In parallel, if organisms of a specific species are too closely related genetically, then evolution is impossible and inconceivable. Furthermore, the concepts of winning and losing are relative terms. This fact can be transposed to describe the people in a socialist system: Without any winners to define who is a loser, everyone who is on the same plane of income is a loser.
Americanism can be stretched to define more than solely American’s views of class conscience, taxation, and the concept of losing. Americanism, as a term, is so malleable in its meaning because of what it attempts to define. Americanism is the definition of American culture, which is an ineffable collection of characteristics. From day one as being a sovereign state, the United States has developed its incredibly unique culture on the basis of its capitalism (Dreyfuss). The proposed adoption of socialism in the United States is not void because of its inability to function in America properly, it is void because of the disregard of culture. American culture cannot be abandoned for the possible benefits of socialism. America is a strong yet tender nation and the tread upon American culture would evoke many more civil issues than exist currently in America’s functional capitalist system today.
This discount for America’s shift toward socialism is not meant to say that socialist systems are by any means flawed or incapable. For example:
We're told about those countries in northern Europe that have nearly created an earthly paradise, where every societal ill is cured by a large, benevolent government. "Everything is free," we often hear: free education, free healthcare, free childcare, free retirement, large unemployment benefits, lots of vacation time, and super-long maternity (and paternity) leave times. Add to that high wages, very low gun crime, low unemployment, and low incarceration rates. And how about low government corruption, very low national debt, and overall sound fiscal policy? Not to mention extremely progressive liberal societies that are often ranked at or near the top in global "happiness" surveys. (Larabell)
As good as these aspects seem, all of this costs money, and lots of it. The countries that fall under the description of an “earthly paradise” come with “legendary high taxes” (Larabell). Nonetheless, Scandinavians are much different from the average American in terms of their views on how society should function. Americans are incapable of living in such a society because of their Americanist ideals like: “anti-statism, laissez-faire, individualism, populism, and egalitarianism” (Dreyfuss).
To conclude, socialism is not a bad idea by any any means. Socialism is proven to have worked in established nations like Sweden, in which it produces happy and prosperous people (Larabell). In parallel, capitalism is also not a bad idea, as it has created some of the world's largest and richest economies. The division of which economic system is correct is that an economic system must coincide with the beliefs of its people, and socialism, as described, does not fit the beliefs of Americans. Although Barack Obama is a democrat who is prone to lean toward socialistic ideals says, “you should just decide what works” (Gregory).