Pub. 16 2019 Issue 1

Issue 1 • 2019 13 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S only about 30% of Americans favored legalization. In 1970, that number was 12%. Marijuana legalization has gone from being unthinkable in 1970, radical in 2000, to popular in 2019. The Overton window has shifted on that particular issue. Supplementing capitalism with tenets of social democracy has gone from being deemed radical 10-15 years ago to being a more mainstream idea in 2019. The economic zeitgeist in the United States for years has been neoliberalism. Contrary to what one might think, the term has nothing to do with “liberal- ism” in the traditional sense. Neoliberalism entails economic liberalization policies such as privatization, austerity, deregula- tion, free trade and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society. The United States will always maintain a high degree of neoliberal ideology, as the private sector is a fundamental driver of the economy, but now there are questions being raised of whether neoliberalism should be balanced with some of the ideas of democratic socialism. Whether one agrees with this idea or not, it is an important and much-needed discussion that is occurring now on a mainstream stage. One of the objections to social democracy has to do with the cost of medicare-for-all, universal child care, universal care of the elderly, etc. If you listen to television news, no matter what network, it is highly likely you will hear this argument be made at some point. However, for instance, there is almost zero chance you will hear anyone in popular media question the amount of money the United States spends on its defense budget. According to The Washington Post, the military budget for 2019 will be $716 billion. The Post states that, “The 2019 military budget, approved by an 85-to-10 Senate vote, gives America's armed forces an $82 billion increase from 2017. The military has called the additional funding necessary to improve its ability to respond to international crises, while critics say Congress should not be giving a significant boost to spending at the Defense Department at a moment of relatively diminished U.S. military involvement around the globe. About 17 percent of America's $4 trillion federal budget goes to the military, accord- ing to the Congressional Budget Office.” Going back to the concept of the Overton Window, it is largely not acceptable to question America’s military spending in mainstream discourse, largely because many conflate ques - tioning the size of the defense budget with disrespecting the honorable men and women who serve in the military. However, it is intellectually dishonest to conflate the two. Questioning whether the U.S. should scale back the size of the military budget and, in a larger sense, examine how our federal budget is dispersed has nothing to do with a lack of respect for those who serve in the military. The United States spends more on its defense budget than the next nine highest-spending countries combined, yet there is rarely any mention of this in mainstream discourse. This illustrates that cost is a subject that is often brought up selectively in order to serve a certain purpose and rarely is it done out of principle. The discussion around social democracy touches on a vari- ety of issues. One, it touches on the record level of inequality that currently exists in America. According to a study by Stanford University, “Over the last 40 years, wage inequali- ty in the United States has increased substantially, with the overall level of inequality now approaching the extreme level that prevailed prior to the Great Depression.” Also, according to the Washington D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies, “Income disparities have become so pronounced that Ameri- ca’s top 10 percent now average more than nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent. Americans in the top 1 percent tower stunningly higher. They average over 39 times more income than the bottom 90 percent. But that gap pales in comparison to the divide between the nation’s top 0.1 per - cent and everyone else. Americans at this lofty level are taking in over 188 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.” In addition to this, “In 2017, the CEO-worker pay gap was nearly nine times larger than in 1980.” When one views these statistics, it is fairly evident why discussing social democracy is becoming more acceptable in the mainstream. The zeitgeist in the United States at this moment is questioning the status quo and not accepting that things will never change. There are a ton of Americans who feel that they haven’t been rewarded for hard work, whether it’s due to crush - ing medical expenses, student loan debt, low wages, etc. That is being reflected in more non-traditional candidates gaining pop - ularity on both ends of the political spectrum. It is important that voters understand these concepts that are being discussed, knowing the difference between communism, socialism, and social democracy, and understanding that social democracy ex - ists under the umbrella of capitalism. Equating social democ- racy with communism is intellectually dishonest and should be labeled as such. America will always be a capitalist country at its core, but having legitimate discussions about tweaking the system to provide for more opportunities for the average person is both healthy and much-needed. n There are a ton of Americans who feel that they haven’t been rewarded for hard work, whether it’s due to crushing medical expenses, student loan debt, low wages, etc. That is being reflected in more non-traditional candidates gaining popularity on both ends of the political spectrum.