Democratic socialism equips America to live up to idealistic principles

Often, when discussing socialism in the U.S., pundits frame it as an all or nothing endeavor. This lack of nuance fails to consider a critical aspect of the discussion—the already existing social welfare programs that are extremely popular in the US. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all examples of governmental financial assistance programs that would fall under the oft disparaged ‘socialism’ through their operational guardrails. They assist the elderly, poor, and disabled with unaffordable costs that many Americans have to face, such as private healthcare companies and retirement plans. This doesn’t even mention organizations like the US Postal Service, which provides the ability to send letters and packages across the country for very little thanks to heavy subsidization by the federal government. These programs are the backbone of many people’s livelihoods and financial security, especially those who are retired or have chronic medical conditions. Though all of these systems exist within America today, they are not seen as inherently socialist, simply due to decades of traditionally bipartisan support of these programs.

Inversely, the current presidential administration campaigned on goals of draining the bureaucratic swamp, through cuts to many social programs that have been pillars of financial security to many Americans. Medicaid cuts have caused many rural hospitals to shut down due to a lack of funding, leaving the people in the area with nowhere to go in a medical emergency. During the recent government shutdown, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration did not need to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which over 42 million people rely on to pay for groceries and feed their families. Whether people have reservations about complete socialism or not, causing food insecurity for 42 million Americans should not be a goal of any administration. Without these systems, many Americans could find themselves unable to provide for themselves for another month, given the large number of families that live paycheck to paycheck. Unfortunately, criticism has not swayed the current administration’s position on defunding social welfare, with current talks of cutting Social Security. These cuts are done not because anyone in the administration cares about reducing the national deficit—neither party does. The cuts to these programs are being used to fund an outrageously large military budget. The US has a trillion dollar military budget, easily the largest in the world. This excessive military budget makes up around half of all discretionary spending by the government, leaving the other half to fund everything else the government is providing to its citizens besides Social Security and Medicare.

If the United States were to embrace a larger social welfare system, millions of citizens could be lifted out of poverty and be provided jobs and fair time off from jobs when unforeseen circumstances arise. There are plenty of countries to observe for implementation of these programs. Several countries in the European Union already provide free healthcare to their citizens, which was proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016, that would work to completely alleviate the financial burden of medical debt from everyday Americans. Not only has this been effectively implemented in several other countries, many representatives in the progressive caucus of the House have advocated for this major legislation to be passed. The population of the US, when polled, overwhelmingly supports this legislation—over 60% approval—but the legislature still does not overwhelmingly support it. This brings into question whether socialist policies are genuinely unpopular or if they are being artificially suppressed by elected officials.

These programs could be implemented here to improve the standard of living, and would surprisingly be very little burden to taxpayers. The current system only requires individuals to pay 37% on income over $626,350, whereas if the creation of more tax brackets taxed income over $100 million at extremely high percentages like 95%, these programs could easily be funded for the good of the vast majority of people in the country. There is also historical evidence that high taxes are beneficial for a nation's income inequality, with the United States’ period of lowest income inequality aligning with when the top tax bracket had the highest rate. An estimated 100 million people in the US have medical debt due to high cost private healthcare, and it seems ridiculous that people living in the wealthiest nation on earth would have this issue. Socialism is a desire for the goal of the government to be improving the lives of the citizenry, rather than simply use money for whatever interests the politicians who are elected to the federal government desire. After all, what is a government’s job if not to address the needs of its constituents? In the wake of other countries surpassing the US in social welfare, industry, and research as the current administration cuts funding to the programs that help those who need it the most, maybe it's time to give socialism a try.

by Will Amel

Published December 1, 2025

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue III