Talking Points about Socialism

Challenge #5: Trump and the 14th Amendment

Before I post today’s challenge, I want to thank everyone who sent in answers for Challenge 4: Socialism. Here are the best responses we’ve received so far:

Five positives about socialism

1. True socialism would eliminate the enormous gap between billionaires and regular people.

2. Social Security, Medicare, MediCal, public education, and even the vouchers right-wingers love so they can send their children to private religious schools on the public’s dime are all positive socialistic programs. So are police and fire departments and the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

3. Without socialism woven into our capitalistic system, we wouldn’t have national infrastructure such as interstate highways, public transportation, power grids, or airport traffic control.

4. Socialism would help strengthen workers’ rights so everyone, no matter where they live, could earn enough to live a decent life.

5. Socialized medicine would increase access to healthcare, which would lead to a healthier, more robust populace.

Five negatives about socialism

1. Socialism eliminates competition, which destroys innovation.

2. If the US were socialistic instead of capitalistic, we’d have even more bureaucrats that believe the process is more important than the outcome, so even the simplest license or event will get completely mired in frustrating red-tape.

3. Socialism is all about taking rights away from individuals and putting it in the hands of a select few that we don’t get to elect.

4. Who’s going to end up paying for all those socialistic government programs? It won’t be the wealthy 1 percenters, that’s for sure. It’ll be the little guy, the middle class, like always, in higher and higher taxes every year.

5. Socialism makes it easy to do nothing and live on the government’s dole.

Commentary

The problem is that we're having the wrong conversation about socialism. Fully socialist systems have failed in the past, but progressive democrats aren't, as conservative (especially MAGA) republicans seem to misunderstand, pushing for pure socialism. The knee-jerk "That's Socialism!" is a logical fallacy, a thought-terminating cliche. The idea is to regulate capitalism in such a way as to reduce corruption and nepotism and preserve individual freedoms.

Do you agree or disagree with these responses? Let us know in the comments.

---

#5: Trump and the 14^th Amendment

A: List five reasons why the 14^th Amendment eliminates Trump from running for president in 2024.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

B: List five reasons why the 14^th Amendment does not eliminate Trump from running for president in 2024.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Again, remember the rules:

• Logical or fact-based answers only

• No religious, faith-based, or proven untruths

• Keep your answers brief; pleonasm will not be read

• You may work with as many study buddies as you want

Talk to family, friends, co-workers, other people—especially those with whom you don’t usually agree. Check out sources you’d normally never consider. And share your answers by next Wednesday so we can all become more literate, informed voters!

When you’re done, ask yourself: Did I learn anything? Did my needle move?

---

You can submit your answers three ways:

1. Email them to ruse2v@gmail.com | Subject: Challenge Answers. Your name and email will be confidential.

2. Use the submission form at https://rusmartenough2vote.com/submit-your-answers/. Your name and email will be confidential.

3. Leave them as a comment here on csharris.substack.com

Let me know if you have a challenge to pose by leaving a comment or emailing ruse2v@gmail.com | Subject: Challenge Question.

And share! Forward this challenge to everyone in your personal and business networks. Let’s make these challenges the thing-to-do for the 2024 election!