population has a favorable view of socialism. Not a single speaker defended socialism, despite the fact that a large portion of the U.S. All Republicans who cast votes agreed that socialism must be condemned, and a majority of Democrats joined them. Regardless, a majority of House members voted in favor of the resolution, making it clear that they oppose socialism in all its forms, whether at home or abroad. “Congress should be working to strengthen the relationships with our fellow democracies, not passing poorly written messaging bills that will alienate our friends and allies,” she said. McCollum noted that many NATO countries that are supporting Ukraine have elected socialist leaders. “With this resolution, House Republicans are sending a message to these nations that we condemn the domestic political process within their nations,” said Betty McCollum (D-MN), who voted against it. Other Democratic critics pointed out that the United States still works with many countries with socialist political parties. The resolution “equates some of the greatest leaders of Israel with some of the greatest mass murderers of history,” he said. Sherman added that many former Israeli leaders were socialists. “Without them, Stalinism may well have prevailed,” he said. opposition to socialist policies.īrad Sherman (D-CA) presented an image of socialist leaders in NATO and emphasized their importance to the United States during the Cold War. They noted that the United States has periodically worked with socialist governments, despite longstanding U.S. Most Democratic speakers made it a point to denounce socialism and proudly identify themselves as capitalists, similar to what President Joe Biden did in his State of the Union address, but several Democratic officials offered strategic reasons for opposing the bill. “This resolution has little to do with intelligent discourse and everything to do with laying the groundwork to cut Social Security and Medicare,” said Mark Pocan (D-WI), who voted against the bill. Several Democratic officials criticized their Republican colleagues for conflating socialism with authoritarianism, ignoring the threat of fascism, and blocking an amendment that specified that Social Security and Medicare are not socialism. “Whether it is communism, Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, anarchism, democratic socialism, ecosocialism, or liberal socialism,” explained John Rose (R-TN), “none of these ideologies should, God willing, ever be implemented in the United States.”Īll Republican speakers spoke in favor of the resolution on the logic of “socialism bad, capitalism good,” as Roger Williams (R-TX) put it, but a large number of Democrats spoke against it. Their latest resolution stokes fears by misleadingly associating the democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) with the tyrannical rule of Joseph Stalin and other repressive leaders. Their major targets have included socialist politicians, social insurance programs such as Medicare and Social Security, and proposals for universal health care and the Green New Deal. Republicans have repeatedly crafted bills that condemn socialism, often as attempts to tarnish Democrats and discredit social programs. “We do not believe in socialism,” Donald Trump explained in 2019, when he was U.S. The United States has repeatedly worked to destroy socialist leaders, ranging from Eugene Debs in the United States during the early twentieth century to leftist leaders across Latin America today. Both Democrats and Republicans have targeted socialists with repression. officials have strongly opposed socialism. “This is a direct insult to many countries the United States counts among its allies-including NATO member states Spain, Germany, and Portugal-which are governed by parties or heads of state that identify as social democratic or socialist,” said Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), who expressed her reluctance to vote on the resolution.įor most of U.S. As several House members acknowledged during the debate over the resolution, the United States has a long history of working with socialist allies and trading partners around the world. partners who have implemented various kinds of socialist policies. friends and allies around the world.īy backing a resolution that “denounces socialism in all its forms,” policymakers condemned a broad range of U.S. The anti-socialism resolution passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month sent a chilling message not only to socialists in the United States but to many U.S.
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