By Jennifer Hibbard, Staff Writer
When people think about the concept of democratic socialism, they often can’t look past the latter portion of the phrase – socialism. They think of countries like Venezuela and Cuba, which have been thrown into economic and political crises by socialist dictators, and they automatically assume that democratic socialism will have the same effect on America. However, it is not the radical, dictatorial ideology that it has been made out to be.
Perhaps the first name that comes to mind when someone mentions democratic socialism is Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. His 2020 campaign features three important issues that follow the central beliefs of democratic socialism: a single-payer healthcare system, government-funded college tuition, and a Green New Deal to combat climate change. At first, these ideas may sound like pie-in-the-sky goals that we have no real way to accomplish, but when broken down, they are actually quite simple and achievable.
SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE
Single-payer healthcare is also commonly known as universal healthcare or Medicare for All. The United States is the only one of the thirty-three developed nations in the world that does not yet have a single-payer healthcare system. Universal healthcare would provide every American with health insurance that covers basic treatments with no premiums or deductibles. A premium is the fee that someone must pay in order to be covered by insurance. A deductible is the specific amount of money that a person must pay directly out-of-pocket before their insurance provider will cover the rest of their costs. For example, if someone’s health insurance deductible is $500, and they get an X-ray which costs $1,000, that person must pay $500 of their own money before their insurance will pay the other $500.
While critics argue that the benefits provided by universal healthcare are outweighed by the cost of implementing this program, most people will in fact save money if the United States converts to a single-payer system. The amount paid in taxes will be far less than the current, outrageous rates charged by healthcare providers. Because most Americans’ employers do not help cover the costs of insurance, Medicare for All will provide massive relief especially to those working for lower wages without their employer’s support for insurance. Additionally, some believe that universal healthcare would be hard to fund, especially since current social programs are already “too expensive.” However, as of now, the reason why social programs are considered unaffordable is because tax cuts for the extremely wealthy have weakened the tax base needed to fund them. With a fair tax on the rich, the government will have enough revenue to fund Medicare for All, benefiting the entire nation.
COLLEGE TUITION
Free college tuition is another democratic socialist goal. It’s exactly what it sounds like – public college tuition, paid in full. Already, this issue has raised eyebrows across the country. Much like Medicare for All, people wonder how this program can be funded. The answer is the same as it was for Medicare for All: tax the wealthy and big corporations fairly. President Trump’s tax cuts for big businesses add up to $2 trillion, which then cycles back to the very wealthiest members of society. With an extra $2 trillion not being tied up in tax cuts, free college tuition suddenly doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
So far, there have been several organizations and colleges, most notably the Kalamazoo Promise in Michigan and New York University, that have dived headlong into the experiment. The Kalamazoo Promise pledges that it will give free college tuition to any student who completes high school and graduates in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and NYU officially declared its medical school tuition-free in 2018. While it is true that the plan to make college tuition-free for everyone is still in its early stages, the fact that testing is underway to progress toward the end goal of free tuition should spark optimism in anyone hoping for the chance to get out of college debt-free.
Once democratic socialist ideals are explained logically, they no longer seem like a threat to the well-being of our nation. Instead, when we look at them factually, we can see that these goals are meant to promote equality and facilitate positive change in a country that has stayed the same for far too long.