Trump and the Republicans have found their 2020 big lie
As the mythic year of 2020 looms upon us at last, watch closely for the gnarled claw of the GOP reaching again and again for the rudest word currently occupying its lexicon: socialism.
“Socialism” has become the Republican bete noir of the second decade of the twenty-first century, much as “communism” was the bete noir of the fifth decade of the twentieth. But you can’t say “communism” without thinking of Russia, and that association is just a little bit dangerous these days – for the folks at the Grand Old Party. Nobody among Republicans wants to be reminded about Russia just now. The elephant symbolizing that party these days is an uncanny doppelgänger for the one in the room.
Socialism has long been the embarrassed half sister of communism, used by conservatives over the years as a stark exemplar of excessive taxation, a grim object lesson of how universal healthcare just might ruin us all if we let it, and why we are all better off without it. Sure, they used to say, we can all be like, say, the United Kingdom, and have healthcare for everyone. But at what price? Taxation to the point of ruin? They pay 60% in taxes over there in Britain, you know, and, as was common to declare among Republicans during the 2012 election, if you want to know how bad universal healthcare is, just ask a Brit.
Then they would stand back and hope to God you didn’t. Ordinarily they had nothing to worry about. The ignorance of the average American about what really goes on in “socialist” Europe remains as dependable as ever, and so, for the time being, the fuzzy understanding Americans have of and for socialism remains safe from accidental discovery by their conservative base. In the meantime they (and by “they” I mean the conservatives driving the machines that keeps their adoring base, well, “adoring”) are dusting off and polishing up – just in time for 2020 – that good old reliable American standard they lovingly refer to as Free Enterprise.
But they would be very much nearer the mark — and rather more ironic and revealing at their own expense — if they would complete the sentence and describe the actual situation for what it is: “socialism for the rich, free enterprise for the rest.” Because that’s what they really want.
Socialism is the best of what Americans already have and have had for a long time. Medicare, Social Security, fire departments, the military, public highways and roads, public libraries, police departments, garbage collections, the EPA, museums, and so on. Republicans simply want to find ways to spend less on these things so they can keep more money for their friends and themselves. They do this by making “socialism” a dirty word. That’s all.
Oh, by the way, while we’re on the topic, Brits pay nowhere near 60% in taxes. Just a little less than 40%. And we don’t pay any taxes at all for the first £12,500 we earn. And if anyone reached out and try to take away our beloved National Health Service, they will withdraw a bloody stump.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.