Socialism in the U$A

Michaël Veremans

The ideals of socialism as practiced throughout the world can be vague and are easily complicated by corrupt politics and poor economic principles. The belief of socialism, of course, stems from the Bible and Marxism as outlined in the Communist Manifesto, both of which emphasize human community over economic gain. It is important to believe in humanity over the world of materialism and financial gain because happiness can’t be bought. This philosophy is applied in democratic socialism, practiced in many European countries. The government type can be seen as a threat to many free-market loving Americans, but little do they know that socialism is practiced in their own households.

It was a weekday and my father and I had just gone grocery shopping. We pulled into the bottom level garage and popped the trunk open. As usual, we both brought up a few of the bags from the garage to our second story apartment. From here my father normally stays in the kitchen to unload the bags of groceries into the cupboards and fridge because he is older and has a slightly injured knee. I continue to return to the car, heaving groceries from there to the kitchen until the trunk is empty and my job is complete.

This is the normal shopping ritual for my father and I, we go to the store, get what each of us need and bring it home in almost the same manner every time. Later that night we had a dinner, both of us eating about the same thing, as we normally do a few nights out of the week. It is after this entire episode that I realized the true meaning of what happened in a normal American household: the essence of socialist ideals.

As the person who brings up groceries, I represent the unskilled or undereducated worker, the backbone of America, doing my job. My father doing less physical labor was charged with distributing the groceries to their given storage areas; he would be representative of any office or executive worker in America. This entire relationship of interdependent work culminated in receiving nearly similar rewards. The blue-collar worker and the white-collar eating the same meal, equally.

In our household and nearly every household it is the same way. No one brings in only the groceries that they intend to eat because there are group meals and communally shared cartons of milk. Everybody works together because they love and care for the well being of each other. It becomes so clear that in a truly happy society, capitalism has little place. In a country that is a family, work is equal for the most part and everyone gets an equal piece of the pie. There is no greed or starvation as a result of valueless work. I see a bright future where the world is seen as everyone’s household filled only with family member because really, it is.