Worried about coming socialism in America? Calm down

The Pundit class was surprised last week by a staggering electoral reversal, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, defeated a 10-year-old in a Democratic House elementary school in New York City. That in itself would be a shock, but the political affiliation of Ocasio-Cortez is even more staggering – she is a self-described socialist. Former campaign organizer Bernie Sanders – who will certainly win the parliamentary elections in his highly democratic district this fall – is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose members have jumped after the victory of the United States. Ocasio-Cortez

. important to keep this primary in perspective. Turnout, as usual for primary elections, was low – only about 13 percent of registered Democrats in the district voted. And the personality, energy and identity of Ocasio-Cortez as a young Hispanic woman could have more to do with his victory than his party affiliation. Meanwhile, the DSA did not approach the level of success of the primary elections enjoyed by the Tea Party in the Republican Party.

But it would be wrong to ignore the socialist push. The stigma around the term has diminished, as fewer Americans remember the Cold War and the Soviet Union and most pay little attention to the economic disaster in Venezuela, which has a government Socialist:

Perceptions of Capitalism and Socialism by Age Group

Source: YouGov

So, what does socialism mean in the United States today? In a country where ideological labels are notoriously malleable, it is worth considering the actual political platforms of candidates like Ocasio-Cortez.

The first platform of the Ocasio-Cortez platform is "Medicare for All". extend the Medicare program for seniors to cover all Americans – a good idea that would make the US health system similar to that of Japan. Instead, it means single payer health care, where the government is the only provider of health insurance. Medicare allows people to buy additional insurance to cover the cost of relatively high deductibles, which help reduce costs; a single payer system could cost more. Although a hybrid system like the current Medicare program would probably be safer, it's hard to imagine that the single payer is worse than the current US system, which is far too expensive and delivers results. mediocre:

Ocasio-Cortez as a human right, which means the elimination of involuntary homelessness. That would actually be a relatively inexpensive and easy thing to do – federal housing initiatives have already dramatically reduced the number of homeless people in the United States and a rough calculation suggests that the rest of the way would probably cost less than 10 billions of dollars. there is the sinister possibility that the socialist approach is not healthy. The Ocasio-Cortez platform includes negative references to "luxury real estate developers" – a pejorative phrase that has been used in the San Francisco Bay Area to refer to any development of low-income housing. market. Cities need market-priced housing to prevent high-income workers from moving low-income residents; Let's hope that the socialists will realize that this aspect of capitalism is desirable.

Another piece of socialist platform is a federal job guarantee. While implementation may be difficult and the fiscal cost may be considerable, there are many benefits to providing government work to those who can not find it in the private sector. This could help workers maintain their skills, networks and work ethic, while giving them a sense of dignity and reason to be. An employment guarantee also provides a large automatic stabilizer, protecting the country from the long-term adverse effects of recessions.

Ocasio-Cortez also supports the free public university for all. This, unfortunately, is a misguided policy idea. Because wealthy Americans tend to pay a lot more for college than the poor, and tend to have major benefits in terms of admission to expensive colleges, free college could easily end up subsidizing those who have higher incomes. In the meantime, there is the issue of implementation – federal tuition subsidies would simply raise university prices, as they did in response to subsidized student loans. And price ceilings would hurt university budgets, leading to lower quality.