Democratic Socialism Threatens Minorities
Nothing better protects victims of bigotry than a system where they can pursue their needs and wants outside the realm of popular control.
Nothing better protects victims of bigotry than a system where they can pursue their needs and wants outside the realm of popular control.
Instead of individual capitalists
deciding what to produce in their endlessly varied, constantly competing
private businesses, “without any democratic input from the rest of society,”
control over industry and decisions about what to produce would reside in state
planning agencies. And imagine their decisions perfectly, if improbably,
reflect the actual democratic will of workers, whether in the nation; or a
state, like Ohio or Utah; or a metropolitan area, like Maricopa County or
Oklahoma City.
Popular control is finally
realized! So: How popular is Islam? How many Muslim prayer rugs would the
democratic majority of workers vote to produce? How many Korans? How many head
scarves? How much halal meat would be slaughtered? What share of construction
materials would a majority of workers apportion to new mosques?
Under capitalism, the mere
existence of buyers reliably gives rise to suppliers. Relying instead on
democratic decisions would pose a big risk for Muslims. And Sikhs. And Hindus.
And Jews. And maybe even Catholics.
Right now, under capitalism,
vegetarians and vegans have more options every year. But there aren’t very many
of them. Five percent of Americans are vegetarians. Three percent are vegans.
Would “the workers” find a societal need to produce vegan meat or milk
substitutes? No one knows the answer.
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