The Simplest Definition of Socialism

The other night, a good friend of mine and I were out to dinner. He’s a smart guy, college educated, and progressive. After listening to a few of my mini-rants about the evil system of exploitation that is capitalism, he blurted out, “but what is socialism, anyway?”

To be fair, it’s not his fault he doesn’t know what socialism is. Capitalists in the U.S. worked overtime in the 50s, 60s, and 70s to demonize anything that was vaguely anti-capitalist, while blacklisting, prosecuting, and murdering those who disagreed.

It’s no wonder then, that most Americans don’t ever learn what socialism really is (or, conversely, what capitalism really is). Our education system has worked to ensure that Margaret Thatcher’s words, “there is no alternative,” is true, because, we know of no other alternative.

If our country — and eventually the world — is to finally overcome capitalism, we need a simple, easy-to-understand definition of socialism. Something that fits on a bumper sticker or in a tweet. And the simplest definition I can think of is this: “Socialism is the crazy idea that not everything should be a business.”

That’s it. No talk of “means of production” (which if I’m honest, confused me for years, thanks to the changing definition of words over the past 150 years), or markets, exchanges, regulation, or “the state”. Just simply, “socialism is the crazy idea that not everything should be a business.”

This definition makes the basic premise of socialism — that we can come together and produce goods and services not for profit but to fulfill a human need — both approachable and understandable.

“Socialism is the crazy idea that not everything should be a business.”

As the recent outcry of support for Luigi Mangione suggests, more and more Americans believe that healthcare shouldn’t be a business.

As housing costs rise because of Wall Street buying up more and more units to rent out for profit, more and more Americans are starting to believe that housing shouldn’t be a business.

And as more and more Americans recognize the danger of pesticides, additives and preservatives inserted into our food, more and more of us are starting to believe that food shouldn’t be a business, either.

Or at least — perhaps these things could be businesses, just after every human being has healthcare, housing, and food, without fear of ever losing them. Then open it up to the market.

The process of ensuring that everyone has these basic necessities of life is a process of “socializing” certain key industries and services. Healthcare has been completely socialized in the U.K., and at least partly socialized in here in the U.S.

The Veterans Administration health system is a perfect example of socialized medicine in our country — a form of socialism — that consistently has the highest approval rating of any government program. The V.A.’s approval rating is insane considering how much older Americans say they distrust the government and say they dislike socialism.

This is to say nothing of the other socialistic programs that serve older Americans with high approval ratings: Social Security and Medicare. Both programs are effectively us saying as a society — retirement shouldn’t be a business. Healthcare for senior senior citizens shouldn’t be a business. This is socialism.

And that is to say nothing of the socialist program that protects every home, business and building in the United States from fire. We have come together, with many people voluntarily putting their lives on the line, to collectively say, saving buildings from fire shouldn’t be a business.

Are not all of these programs examples of socialism? The collective ownership of the means of production of a good or service, in part or whole — not for profit, but for public benefit?

As Christians, we’re called by God to live lives of radical love: love for God and love for all of God’s creation — our neighbors, ourselves, our planet. Capitalism — which views all of these things not with respect and love but as simply elements to be exploited for private gain — is the complete opposite of Christianity.

We must thus embrace socialism, and try to convince our brothers and sisters to do the same. But to do that, we must make our ideas simple and easy to understand.

And the simplest way I can think to explain socialism is to simply say, “socialism is the crazy idea that not everything should be a business.”

What do you think?

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