Socialist Policies Today

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Many Republicans like to fearmonger that Socialists are trying to do this and that, destroy American values, bla bla bla. Well, to be quite honest, I don't know what they're talking about. So I want to go over some policies I would support - as a Socialist, with the first aim being (1) maintain prosperity, social cohesion and peace in society, and (2) proceed towards a more equitable future. Overall, it sounds like Nordic+, the "+" meaning a strong push towards democratizing workplaces, as well as large-scale infrastructure investment, such as fiber-for-all and a high-speed rail system. We cannot impose total, fundamental change - that is for the workers and people to decide. Most importantly, many of these policies I believe most of our representatives in government would support on their own merits.

These are not just a smattering of policies. There are three goals in mind: (1) future-proof the economy to boom in the 21st century by not only considering climate crisis, but booming because of it, (2) invest in neglected communities, such as inner cities and rural "fly-overs", through public trains, transits, and incentives for more walkable cities and communities, and (3) empowering individuals to live happier, healthier lives with a voice in the place they work in. This is not just a grab-bag of policies and goals, but a vision of the future, utilizing intelligent policies which dovetail together. For example, investing in rail is not just about improving the nation - it is about tilling the land for the seeds of stronger communities to grow; to save Americans (who don't one a car) tens of thousands of dollars on a vehicle; to relieve pressure on urban housing markets. It's not about instituting command economies, it's about empowering people by boosting their businesses, their voice in their workplace, and their quality of life.

Invest in Workers, in Communities, in the Republic

• The PRO Act - Unions are fantastic tools in the arsenal of the working class. We need to make it easier to unionize, easier to take action, easier to act in solidarity with other workers. The most cost effective way to regulate business is to let the workers, who know how that business runs, to regulate their bosses with direct action. It's up to Capital Hill to help workers do so. Further, by giving workers a stronger voice at the place that most impacts their lives, they can better understand their value in the economy, and the power of democracy as a vehicle of power to deliver their voice.
• In addition, I would require several things of unions, such as providing tentative agreements to their workers before voting on them, enforcing policies to make them even more democratic. Unions should be a glimpse into the reality that workers can manage a business, a glimpse into the power of democracy if we give it air to breath.
• "For the People" Act and the John Lewis Act - reinforcing the Voting Rights Act (John Lewis Act) and defending against voter restrictions and gerrymandering is of tantamount importance right now. Together, I believe Socialists and Democrats could find common ground here - in fact, nearly every Democrat supports these bills, so it shouldn't be that difficult.
• Universal Healthcare and taming Big Pharma - this is a doozy, but it's got to be at the top of the bill. Americans are dying and suffering because of this failure.
• Increased taxes on the wealthy - this one is obvious. Nothing that crazy, but I'm not a tax wonk, so I don't know.
• Push to a Constitutional Amendment to abolish the slavery loophole of the 13th Amendment.
• Ending the Drug War, as well as supporting justice in Latin America where we have before aided and abetted criminals. We need to invest in lands our policies have ravaged.
• Higher regulation of finance and banking.
• Federal legislation in support of ESOPS/Meisner-esque plan - this would allow a means of workers to start to own and have an institutionalized voice in the enterprises they work at.
• Federal support/subsidies/grants for worker cooperatives - this would help worker cooperatives surmount the initial investment difficulties of worker coops.
• Abolishing (or close-to) standardized testing - standardized testing is the absence of education. We must end this awful practice, and go back to actually teaching.
• Right to Repair (R2R) - This is a big one. In this pandemic, hospital staff were unable to repair crucial equipment, and farmers currently gamble every time they turn their tractors off. Additionally, consumers are forced to waste hundreds and thousands of dollars buying new products, when in a R2R America, they could simply repair the thing (or have a third-party shop repair it). This is also a huge bonus for the environment.
• Unpopular position: Nuclear power. A typical nuclear power plant can produce over twice (if not more) than the Hoover Dam [1][2]. We are hurdling towards climate catastrophe, and nuclear power is the cleanest way to get there right now. Eventually, we can wind down nuclear power in favor of wind and solar, but for now, I'd rather be running nuclear than natural gas and coal. That's the reality of our choice right now. Nuclear is highly safe these days. We need it.
• High Speed Rail + local-rail: Another great issue facing us today is two-fold: (1) the alienation of a car-driven world, and (2) the climate impact of driving around cars. We all know the points for (2), even for electric vehicles, so nevermind that. Problem with a car-driven world is that to get anywhere, you need this expensive hunk of metal; cities have to be designed around giving space to these hunks of metal. Instead, highly efficient mass transit can allow us integrate and re-imagine communities in new ways. You could commute in from Detroit to Chicago to work, and take the tram downtown to hang out with friends, even get drunk, without worrying you'll have to drive. How to power this massive network? In part, nuclear power.
• (Internet) fiber-for-all: Joe Biden and the Democrats appear to be considering this, and Gov. Newsom of California appears to be looking at something in the same ballpark. Fiber provides high speed internet, it is MUCH more cost effective than our current infrastructure... and the people opposing it are of course private companies, who rudely say rural people should be happy with the internet they have! We can do far better, invest in the country, so a 21st century economy can boom.
• Cybersecurity, de-privatizing security, and going open-source: Open source is the most secure model for cybersecurity, this has been found true over and over. A Socialist government (or any government) should seek to (A) extensively fund open source projects to support their independence of private interests, and (B) use this field to develop better security protocols. Private security means are too slow to update and fix, as well as being much more vulnerable overall.
• Public housing with intelligent dispersal and funding. - We need to learn the lessons from the mistakes we experienced in public housing, while also realizing they are a necessary part of a just and equitable future. We need housing which isn't subject to the whims of profits, no amount of regulation can fix this problem. Private housing can still exist, and much of the project would involve buying property from said land owners.
• Expanded Childcare, raising the minimum wage - I put these together because it is the aim here to (A) relieve parents of the scheduling stress involved with having children and needing/wanting to both work jobs, and (B) by raising the minimum wage, to reduce the amount of hours parents need to work, and therefore have more time with their families, to do things important to them, like going to worship or pursuing somewhat-seriously a hobby they like. Combined with affordable public housing, high-speed rail, fiber-for-all, and general infrastructure investment, we hope to give Americans jobs for the moment, communities for businesses to bloom, and infrastructure to live comfortable and fulfilling lives. Businesses that struggle to meet the minimum wage can file for government support.
• Investment into desalination technology and proactive sea-level-rise measures - we are hurdling towards a water crisis. We need to be prepared for when it hits. What costs us $1 today will cost $100 and 5000 lives later on.
• Extensive support for science, arts, and humanities

It is my belief that many of the issues we face today - declining communities, despair, police-community tensions - these emerge from economic despair, a nation buckling under the weight of the moment, without the infrastructure to support it. By investing in communities, we can give people dignity, jobs, hope. We can draw inspiration from our past, but look to the future towards a century of prosperity.

The Socialist's goal is not to top-down institute socialism. It is to empower the worker, to empower the citizen, who for so long has been so deprived of their rights that they do not know what they deserve, so that they see what is right. To taste prosperity. If they want to go further, they will vote in that spirit. But step one is pull us out of the maw of the inferno we are about to fall into.

I want to be able to take a train, bus, metro, whatever - and go downtown, have a drink, go on a date, grab some food. Take it back, not have to worry about the whole thing getting hacked. I want to be able to get to work, and have a voice there. If I get married and have kids one day, I want us to both be able to pursue our dreams, and still have time to be a family together. I want to be able to have a 21st century business no matter where I'm at, in the city or the country. I want to be able to repair my stuff. I want to live in a prosperous nation.

The Nordic Model (Notes)

The Nordic model is loved and hated by soc dems and socialists, but there are a lot of lessons to draw from it regardless. They've certainly been very successful, amongst Western countries, pushing for leftism, and they've thus had more experience and opportunities to get experimental. Let's learn from their laboratory.

Jacobin (11/4/20): Matt Bruenig: How the Nordic Model Works, and Why You Should Care (Stay At Home #16)

Three main institutional differences

1. Union coverage
2. Social spending
3. State ownership

Result: Low Income Inequality

1. Smaller gaps between wage levels
2. Smaller gaps in disposable income
3. Lower poverty

Result: Humane Work-Life Balance

1. More paid leave for new parents (up from zero in the USA)
2. More vacation
3. Fewer work hours

Plus: Nordic economies grow at least as fast as the US economy.

In these countries everyone is in a union, workers elect board members to corporations, it's useful to have examples in our direction. ... Should at least be clear about what's going on in the countries, ... wanna make sure people understand is that it's not just a normal capitalist society with a big welfare state. That's not the only thing going on in the countries. You have across the whole region the government's own collectively 1/3 the region's wealth - this is massive. Make sure you understand that these are much more socialized economies than you might think, much bigger public sectors, unionization, co-determination, state ownership, etc. etc., that's all there - it's not just the welfare state. ... They got all the stuff we want: the welfare state, they have national health insurance, they have free college, they have very heavily subsidized child care, they have paid live, the whole laundry list - what we want with Bernie, they got it, and it works.

Smallness critique (easier for nordics to do socialism cause they're smaller): Bruenig: actually exactly backwards harder for smaller countries, cause have to rely on exports to survive. In Sweden, exports are 50% GDP. In the US, exports are 11-12% GDP, so less exposed to international economy, and thus less disciplined by it.

Which came first, strong unions or social democracies? Brunig: unions came first, and why they got universal suffrage.