The Left Right Political Spectrum is Meaningless
by John Lawrence, August 25, 2020
Trump is hoping to be reelected by labeling Joe Biden and the Democrats as radical socialists - far left - disciples of Fidel Castro who want to turn the US into a communist state. They are living in the mindset of the 1950s when the one dimensional political spectrum had some meaning. However, it is just an abstraction which doesn't even apply to present day realities. At the very least the political spectrum is two dimensional if not multidimensional. This is not the Leave it to Beaver 1950s where everyone celebrated the victory of freedom over fascism and everyone came home from the war with the GI bill which allowed them to buy a reasonably priced house in Levittown and secure their piece of the American Dream.
But wait a minute. In the 1950s black veterans were not allowed to buy a house in Levittown. Black folks were not allowed to ride in the front of the bus or drink out of the same drinking fountain in the South. The idyllic picture of American life did not even apply to Jews who were not allowed to buy real estate in La Jolla, CA, a ritzy suburb of San Diego. The American Dream was only for white folks. The Democratic party was composed of northern union members and farmers and southern segregationists. Black people, if they were allowed to vote at all, voted Republican, the party of Lincoln who freed the slaves. Then in 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was enacted and signed into law by a southerner, Lyndon Johnson, white southern supremacists switched sides and were welcomed into the Republican party. Black people switched sides and became, by and large, Democrats. The Republican party became the White Peoples Party (WPP) which is what it represents today.
The one dimensional political spectrum, which might have had some relevancy in the 1950s, is irrelevant today. The Republican party is still in the mindset and the paradigm of the 1950s as they try to tar and feather Democrats as far left radical socialists. The fact of the matter is that most advanced countries in the world today are combinations of capitalism and socialism. Take Denmark for example. Denmark has a comprehensive social security net and hence has been characterized as socialist. However, the entrepreneurial culture in Denmark is thriving. Clusters within information technology, life sciences, and clean tech are booming. And so are entrepreneurial clusters within food, maritime and design. There is a very strong collaboration across Danish government, investors, startup communities and enterprise companies, which has been instrumental in boosting entrepreneurship in Denmark. Between 2014-2016, there was a 360 percent growth in the number of Danish small businesses. So is Denmark capitalist or socialist? The answer is that it is both.
Denmark has universal health care as does every other advanced industrialized country on earth. Yet Republicans want you to believe that Medicare for All is a socialist system. The fact is that the US is an outlier when it comes to universal health care, That makes the Republican party's attempt to label Bernie Sanders and his advocacy of universal health care ridiculous. If anyone's radical when it comes to health care, it's the Republican party which is trying to pull the wool over your eyes and have you believe that Medicare for All is a radical socialist idea. It's not. What's radical is the health care situation in the US compared to every other advanced industrialized nation.
Trump and his associates never tire of calling China the "Chinese Communist Party." The reality is that China is also a hybrid of capitalism and socialism. China is primarily a one party system although there are other political parties in China. In practice, only one political party holds effective power at the national level, namely the CCP. Its dominance is such that China is effectively a one-party state. The eight minor parties are part of the United Front and also take part in the political system, but they have limited power at the national level. China is a 5000 year old civilization and in a sense the Chinese Communist Party is really the Chinese Party. It is communist in name only. The reality is China's booming economy produced a 206% increase in the number of billionaires there within just five years. China's richest man is Alibaba founder Jack Ma, with a net worth of $39 billion. China brought 800,000 people out of poverty in 40 years. It is engaged in massive infrastructure initiatives around the world with its Belt and Road Initiative.
So let's get real. The US has one model among many models. The US itself is a hybrid of capitalism and socialism. That great socialist Dwight Eisenhauer used government taxpayer money to build the US interstate highway system. Medicare and Social Security are socialist systems. So is the public education system funded by taxpayer money. So is the Post Office although Trump and the Republicans are doing their best to get rid of any vestige of socialism including the Post Office in the US.
Maybe it would make better sense to pose the question "what hybrid of capitalism and socialism works the best?" This would entail a comparative study of the societal systems of other countries and an acknowledgement of what is working and what is not working in their countries and our own country. Instead the Republican party is intent on demonizing labels contained in the mindset and paradigm of the 1950s and trying to pin them on to the Democratic Party. What they really stand for is the US as it was when white supremacy and the WPP was the order the day. It's not reality in today's world.
