Week 07 Response -- How Would Citizens of Socialist Governments React to the U.S.?

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This post is in response to the question Do you think that people living in a socialist government would be blown away in our government? posed by Hive account@anniebburg.

I think that when discussing socialism, it is also important to recognize socialistic systems. My answer to this question is no, people living in a socialist government would not be blown away by our government because they would recognize the various socialistic systems that our government currently has in place. Many of the resources that our taxes go towards are socialist in nature. Socialism is the idea that the means of production, but not all property, are owned communally and usually ran by a democratic government. In the United States, the public education system and infrastructure spending are good examples of systems that are socialist in spirit. These resources are paid for and made possible by communal means through collecting taxes from citizens. I do believe that depending on the socialist country this person is coming from, they may be surprised that we do not have more systems like this in the United States government. For example, citizens from Nordic countries are likely more used to having universal healthcare—a means of production ran by an elected government in order to ensure health care provision for all citizens. To these people, they may be surprised by our current health care system, and how health care is not a guarantee for everyone. However, citizens from other countries whose government claims to be socialist and border on communism may be impressed by the freedom they experience here. This also brings up the interesting conversation of what we should and should not deem “socialist” or “communist.” There are many governments in history that operate under the guise of “valuing” the principles of socialism and communism, but in practice act more totalitarian and oppressive. These countries claim this status in order to achieve more power and wealth for the higher ups while clearly not valuing the collective good of their citizenry.