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Republicans want to have it both ways. They unabashedly love communists throughout the world but don't want to give working families their rights in the United States. It is truly mind-boggling that none of the Republicans has had any genuine qualms about their lovefest with the Ex-KGB agent and Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin or fascist regimes throughout the world including Kim Jong-un. Most of Republicans would be rather subservient to communists but they are planning to point the fingers at the Democrats as socialists. This is their new "fool-proof" election strategy for 2020! They would come out swinging with slogans which would label all progressive Democrats as socialists while soliciting help for their own re-election campaigns from their favorite communist regimes.
"The Times They Are A-Changin"! During the Cold War, McCarthy was a redbaiting GOP Senator who saw all Democrats as Russian communists but now Republicans are in bed with communists. George Bush famously saw Putin’s soul in his eyes. Recent polls show that only 10% Republicans believe that Russian is the greatest immediate threat to the United States. Actually, since Trump's bromance with Putin, the percentage of Republicans who consider Russia an ally has almost doubled from 22 percent to 40 percent.
Ronald Regan must be squirming in his grave when Republicans try to make political hay by calling their Democratic colleagues as socialists while they are themselves in bed with the worst known communists. Their new doctrine for the 2020 election? Let us erase from our collective memories and history books the decades' long struggle of US and democratic world and march in solidarity with our communist comrades. Welcome to Red Square! Democrats, no way, they are unpatriotic socialists; godless Communists, they share our values and attitude towards democratic values.
Let us ask Republicans to put the motherland before the petty political gimmicks of the party. The United States is a Socialist Democracy, and we as a nation, want to remain one. Republicans love both extremes- Repressive communism and unfettered capitalism. Most Americans seek the middle ground where Americans live in a democratic society that respects worker's rights and the country's resources are "for the people" - This is what is known as Socialist Democracy!
In a capitalist society, companies that incorporate are typically treated by the same laws as individuals. Under capitalism, it is the government's job by enforcing laws and regulations to make sure there is a level playing field for everyone. Not too long ago, Bernie Madoff’s stole 64.8 billion but is enjoying an easy life in a federal correctional complex while a homeless person may spend years in a poor county jail for stealing a loaf of bread if he or she had a prior conviction. Madoffs of the world have more rights than the people, he stole the money from. In the financial industry, there have been repeated market crashes over last century, driven by greed by ultra-rich and always poor taxpayers have been forced by our representatives to rescue the “too big to fail” guys.
The CEO salaries are obscenely high, but the average American thinks the pay ratio (the pay gap between the highest-paid executive and lowest paid worker) is only 30:1 but average is actually closer to 300:1 ratio. CEO salaries have grown exponentially while wages and benefits for workers have been stagnant for decades. Guardian newspaper reported that the "CEO of Marathon Petroleum, Gary Heminger, took home an astonishing 935 times more pay than his typical employee in 2017. In other words, one of Marathon’s gas station workers would have to toil more than nine centuries to make as much as Heminger grabbed in just one year". It would be very difficult to convince an average Joe that their CEO is 1000 times smarter or works 1000 times harder.
The US needs a healthy mix of socialism and restrained capitalism. It does not take a genius to understand that the United States—like every other advanced economy, such as the U.K., Germany, France, and Japan—is already a partly socialist country, with a mixed economy and multiple government programs (more than 80 in the US!) that serve the public good. “By this definition, Social Security is a “socialist” program: it’s a government-run pension system that cuts out private money managers. Medicare – a single-payer, government-run health insurance program for those over 65 – is too. Medicare-For-All would simply extend this to the rest of the population” as succinctly outlined by ourfuture.org.
In many of these socialist programs, the federal government actively intervenes in the capitalist market to mandate employers to meet minimum standards, including minimum wage and maximum hour, etc. Higher education and the school system are supported by the government. Most of these programs including very socialist programs in spirit such as agricultural and energy subsidies are darling of the capitalist but communist loving Republicans.
It is high time to tell Republicans that they can't have it both ways!
(Image Credit: https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/06/16/trump-mcconnell-roberts-who-will-be-russias-favorite-pawn/)