Socialism, at least in our country, has a bad reputation, mostly in consequence of the Cold War.Due to its zeitgeist, those from this era are unwilling to even entertain the idea of a socialist United States; these narrow-minded ways are inhibiting America in many ways, economically and morally.

The definition of socialism is broad, but the specifying factor is the presence of some mechanism of redistributing wealth to the masses, thus creating a relatively more equal society, class-wise. Communism has become a misnomer for what most actually mean to be a variant of socialism, most likely democratic-socialism, which include Scandinavia and Western Europe.

A democratic-socialist state would alleviate the income disparity that we currently experience. The top 20% own about 85% of the wealth in the United States. Historically, the Great Depression was caused, in part, by a large income disparity in the 1920s. The manufacturing sector was growing exponentially, as manufacturing methods became more and more refined through innovations such as the assembly line. For most of these products, very few were able afford it; once everyone in the market had bought the product, the value plummeted, as well as the stock value, contributing to the stock market collapse.

Sophomore Jorge Castano says, “I believe that socialism could be a good form of government when not tainted by human greed. In places like Venezuela, socialism was defamed and labeled as corrupt when really it is just the people on top who ruined what could have been.”

Although there are currently regulations and statutes in place to try to prevent this event’s recurrence, the similarities between our current situation and the prelude to the Great Depression are frightening. Implementing a stronger, central government to redistribute the wealth evenly could save us from possible disaster.

Similarly, the current state of health insurance in America, due to the lack of involvement by the government, is broken. About 15% of Americans are left without health coverage, and the United States is almost entirely alone when it comes to universal health care among developed countries. Prescription drugs are racked up to incredulous amounts, allowing people like Martin Shkrelli to have the ability to increase Daraprim by 5,000%.

AP Government and World History teacher Robert Ash comments, “I wish we could do things like universal healthcare etc., without it needing to be called socialism. Healthcare, in a post-industrial revolution democratic republic as rich as ours, should be paid for through taxes and income based co-pays. The future of our nation depends on an educated working class, you cannot have education monetarily out of reach for so many people if we are going to be competitive. ”

Many of those who support capitalism state that a free market is the only moral economic system as it does not infringe on one’s right to make a voluntary agreement with another person/group represented by agents; however, capitalism is often a vessel in which the privileged class is able to dictate the lives of the lower class. Proponents of capitalism rebuff this by stating that as long as the person works, they will succeed. Although there are some who are able to become that coveted position of a CEO at a successful company, very few of the people who are assiduous ever achieve the amount of success they deserve. Those who do succeed are often those who had opportunity, which is often only available when one comes from an affluent background. This perpetuates the idea that in a capitalist society the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The only fair market is one wherein everyone has an equal opportunity as the person next to them. Socialism aids those who are in compromised situations and face adversity to reach the potential they have and allow them the same opportunity as everyone else.