It was rather refreshing to hear someone who is actually on the 'extreme Left' for once, especially on FoxNews.com regular segment, Alan Colmes Versus. Gloria La Riva is a 2016 Presidential Candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a true Socialist Party. Alan Colmes asked about her thoughts about Bernie Sanders' brand of Democratic Socialism and to compare his positions with her own.
She explains that by analyzing Senator Sanders' foreign policy positions, he is anything but a Socialist. The U.S. Military is bloated and far too aggressive. The fact that Sanders supported the Afghanistan War and his pro-Israeli military assistance-position categorizes him as just as much of a pro-hegemony American as many of our leaders. She agrees that we should have military for defense, but she thinks the entire Pentagon should be dismantled. Can't say I disagree there.
La Riva explains the problem with being brainwashed with a Capitalist mindset:
'There's an assumption that we're raised with under Capitalism that workers won't feel compelled to work, no incentive without the profit motive. That's ridiculous. Why is it more compelling for someone to work to make someone rich than to provide for the common good?'
Alan asks why is it bad to move up the ladder as a Capitalist, after investing your own money. La Riva provides the big corporate model that will ALWAYS make a profit by minimizing wages and, consequently, there will always be a huge wealth disparity where the majority of the workers are dirt poor. Colmes was trying to ascertain the acceptable amount that the government should allow for profit for an individual or corporation. La Riva tries to explain that the best thing for a company is to work for the common good, and current owners should be managers, but there should be no exorbitant salaries for a very select few. There is no actual dollar amount that she can arrive at, just a figure that is in keeping with commensurate benefits to society.
A luxury car maker would be compelled, under a true Socialist system, to produce high speed rail and other transportation that benefits a greater portion of society. Could you imagine people like the Koch Brothers being forced to be compassionate human beings, and thus sharing the wealth they made off the fruits of this country? Wishful thinking.
The problem with her system gaining acceptance in the U.S.A., is that the Capitalist mentality is so entrenched, no one can fathom, especially on the Right, that people would care about each other and nationalize all the sectors of society that are now profit-driven: healthcare, education, natural resources, and energy, among others. If someone, on say CNBC or Fox Business, asked these questions, I'm sure they would paint Gloria La Riva as an extreme fan of Mao Tse Tung or Fidel Castro. This is patently false, as Despotism is not the same as Socialism. If she doesn't realize that the mentality of this country regarding Socialism has been tarnished by the regimes that we have been brainwashed to associate with it, it will always be demonized. By equating Socialism with these sorts of despotic figures, Capitalists never fear that this country could ever become a more equitable, Socialist society.
There are countries that are fine examples of functioning Socialist governments, who incorporate elements of Democracy simultaneously. For example, when Norway discovered vast reserves of offshore oil, the people received most of the profit from the nationalized resource. As a result, virtually no one in that nation has to contend with homelessness, starvation, unaffordable education or a lack of healthcare. Norway also avoided foreign venture capitalists investing in their country, learning from the mistakes of the Dutch Petroleum model. Imperialism and Socialism do not mix well.
Colmes, I suspect, finds La Riva's ideas very attractive, but as an employee of GOP-TV, he knows that it'll be a cold day in Hell before her views become mainstream in the Kleptocracy that we call Capitalist America.
Klep-to-cra-cy -noun
a government or state where those in power exploit national resources and steal; rule by thieves.
Bernie Sanders would be a great stepping stone to transitioning this country from a Kleptocracy to more of a Democratic-Socialist society, but it's obvious we can't transition as quickly as the Party for Socialism and Liberation would like us to. If a Republican takes the White House, there is no possible way that our government could be anything but a Kleptocracy.
