“Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.

Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social Security.

Socialism is what they called farm price supports.

Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.

Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.

Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.”

                                                                                –President Harry S. Truman, October 10, 1952

Let’s be honest—fear sells.  If I can convince you to be afraid of something, it’s a lot more powerful than convincing you to see the value in something.  Corporate America understands this very well.

And nowhere is this more evident than in politics.  Create a buzzword, loosely define it, make people afraid of it, then use it to smear anything the other side is doing.  It’s been going on for years.  And few fear-mongering words have carried more clout than the “S” word.

Socialism.

Full disclosure here—I’m from Missouri.  Harry Truman was a personal hero where I grew up.  He stood up for small business, farmers, and working people of all kinds.  He supported free enterprise and hard work.

But he also realized that government could help level the playing field so more people could succeed. It could create a backstop to keep the country on its feet during hard times.  And for this, the Far-Right labeled him a Socialist.

Strong public education, affordable and universally accessible health care—you could add those to the list of programs Truman supported.  In 1965, when his dream of universal health care was adopted for those 65 and older—what became known as Medicare—an 81- year-old Truman was the first to sign up.

But to the Far-Right, all of this was Socialism.

Of course, this didn’t really start with Truman.  Even in the 1920’s, Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith was branded a Socialist by his Republican opponent, who wound up winning in a landslide.

The opponent’s name was Herbert Hoover.  If you’ve studied history, you know what came next.

The Great Depression sent shockwaves across the U.S. economy.  One out of every four working Americans couldn’t find a job.  Out of desperation, millions began to flirt with the concepts of German/Italian Fascism, or Soviet Union-style Communism.  The free market, it seemed, was doomed.

But when Franklin Roosevelt entered the White House, he was determined to stabilize the economy and get the country back on its feet.  And he knew it would take more than thoughts and prayers, austerity budgets, and tax-cuts for the wealthy.  It would require a social infrastructure that would allow for security, job growth, and opportunity.  Food on the table, a roof over your head, and hope for the future.

Roosevelt’s “New Deal” contained many of the elements listed in the Truman quote at the top of the page.  It was a godsend.  I still remember my grandparents talking about the “blessing” of electricity brought in by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), that provided something unthinkable—power even when their windmill wasn’t turning!

Workers built dams, roads, and parks.  The New Deal brought jobs.  Most of all, it brought hope.

It also brought scathing criticism.  Counting the number of times Roosevelt was derided as a Socialist, a Communist, or worse, might just blow up the average laptop.  But Roosevelt persevered.  Social Security helped keep the elderly from going broke, price supports helped farmers claw their way back from foreclosures, and a robust trade-union movement improved working conditions and wages.  

After the war, progress slowed.  When Truman tried to revive Teddy Roosevelt’s dream of universal access to health insurance, he was derided as a Socialist.  When he addressed Congress regarding his health care proposals, one Republican Congressman simply ignored him by reading the newspaper during the entire speech.

To many on the Far-Right, any government program that didn’t directly benefit big business was Socialism.  Many raged as the maximum U.S. income tax bracket went up to 90% (sorry about that Elon).  The very idea of a minimum wage was supposed to turn Washington into Moscow.  Yet during this time America enjoyed some of the most impressive overall economic growth in its history. 

Organized labor flourished.  President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself was a supporter, firmly stating: “Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.  I have no use for those – regardless of their political party – who hold some vain and foolish dream of spinning the clock back to days when organized labor was huddled, almost as a hapless mass.  Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.”

Take that, Elon Musk.

By the 1960’s, health care for many of the elderly was becoming unobtainable.  Families were confronted with the real issue of “do we sell the farm to pay for Grandpa’s hospital stay, or do we try to hang on to it and just let Grandpa go?”  In addition, basic health care was beyond the reach of many of America’s poor.

Enter Lyndon Johnson.  He pared down Truman’s vision of universal health care and pushed for passage of the Medicare program for those over 65.  He supported the development of state-run Medicaid programs for the poor.  All of this, of course, got him labeled a Socialist.

And let’s not forget Civil Rights.  The very idea that the big, bad federal government would have the audacity to overrule the states, and open schools and voting booths to minorities was outrageous!  It was Socialism!

Of course, it didn’t stop there.  Even after Ronald Reagan recanted his initial virulent opposition to Medicare (and used Medicare benefits himself), the program was still called Socialism by the Far-Right.  An effort by Bill Clinton to expand private insurance to cover all Americans got him labeled a Socialist.

Even Barrack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) that provided health insurance for 25 million Americans who previously had none, and didn’t increase the overall cost of health care one bit, got him labeled a Socialist.

Let’s be blunt.  None of these programs turned America into a bunch of Socialists. (Editor’s note:  Many of the same Far-Right critics swore that Clinton, Obama, and Biden would “take away your guns,” too.  That was also B.S.).

And now comes the Far-Right’s effort to smear “Komrade Kamala” as a Socialist.  Any effort to lower prices, improve services, make prescription drugs less expensive?  All Socialism!

Really?  Is this Far-Right crap ever going to change? 

No, it just keeps going.  Now, it’s not enough to mislabel something simply as Socialism.  It’s much better to add other scare words such as “Wokeism,” “Critical Race Theory,” and “Marxism.”  After all, the more they make you afraid of, the better.

But shouldn’t somebody at least ask the simple question, “what is Socialism, anyway?”  Like all misused terms, it has an actual definition.  So let’s look at the Merriam Webster Dictionary:  “Socialism–a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state.”

Owned and controlled by the state? Think about that.  When I saw a Medicare patient, was I practicing “socialized” medicine? No. If a farmer avoids bankruptcy when price supports keep him afloat when the soybean market crashes, is he practicing “socialized” farming? No. 

A worker who benefits from her right to organize is no more a Socialist than a CEO whose funds are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).  Air traffic controllers who help land you safely in a crowded airport don’t turn you into a Socialist every time you fly.

None of these things are Socialism.  Except in the minds of the Far-Right.

Think about this in the coming weeks.  You’re sure to hear cries of “Socialism!”  “Marxism!”  and “Communism!” thrown around like confetti.  You’ll likely hear that a Tim Walz-led Minnesota is the biggest Communist threat this side of Beijing.

Nonsense.  The reality is, Social Security, Medicare, and worker’s unions have not turned America into a “Socialist” society, regardless of what the Far-Right says.

It’s about time we put an end to these phony claims. 

November 5^th might just be a good place to start.