You would have been hard-pressed to consume any coverage of the 2020 presidential campaign without hearing Republicans attack Democrats as socialists.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) said in her GOP convention speech that Biden’s vision for America was “socialism” and he would be controlled by the far left of his party if elected president.
Not to be outdone, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in at the GOP convention that, "Democrats have chosen to go down the road to socialism" and plan to eliminate private health insurance and provide “taxpayer funded healthcare for people who come here illegally”.
Although socialism technically refers to a system government whereby the means of production are owned and controlled by the state, Republicans have used socialism to describe government redistributing wealth and handouts to so-called welfare queens.
And while there are certainly some high-profile lawmakers on the left that have expressed support for socialism - i.e., Senator Sanders (I-VT) and Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) - the real pseudo-socialism in America can be seen in how our federal dollars have been redistributed to Republican states and interests.
Of the eight states that send more funds per capita to the federal government than they receive, six of those states voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Nebraska, Utah and Minnesota all subsidize the other 42 states that make up the nation.
Most egregiously, of the 15 states that receive the most funds per capita from the federal government, 10 of those states voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Maine, Hawaii, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, New Mexico, Alaska, Kentucky and Virginia each received over $4,000 per capita from the federal government at the expense of mostly Democratic states.
There is a plethora of additional recent examples of how Republicans have embraced pseudo-socialism when it benefits them.
In May, President Trump announced a new $16 billion aid package for American farmers hit hard by his trade war with China.
In June 2016, President Trump called for a bailout of U.S. coal industry as they faced a rise in competition from alternative energy sources like natural gas.
Republicans are being intellectually dishonest when they argue that Democrats are attacking their freedoms by embracing socialism.
For better or worse, Republicans and Democrats have both embraced “socialism” to help meet the needs of their constituents. If Republicans really want to standup to redistribution of wealth, they should begin by demanding that Kentucky, the home of Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY), stop taking over $10,000 more per capita from the federal government than it contributes.
Comments