I just heard a discussion about the biggest military recruiting tool, and I froze.Here it is--We give soldiers and sailors something America won't give its citizens: steady income, healthcare, and food security.That is called "Socialism."We go into impoverished neighborhoods and sell this socialism to the poor.Many see that as their best option.Then we send these young people to the far reaches of the planet to push the letter of capitalism in an envelope of democracy.The Soldiers of Socialism.
Stupid statements about socialism are so commonplace that the old phrase "a dime a dozen" constitutes overkill, even with inflation. This isn't the first time I've encountered "the military is socialism." More typically, I see "public works is socialism." The thing about these silly big-tent arguments that makes me sad is that they actually aren't part of the normal socialist playbook. You wouldn't catch a dyed-in-the-wool revolutionary spouting this crap. Converted bourgeois nepo-babies, academic misanthropes, or actual impoverished proles don't think to try to achieve socialism by redefining it to include everything. No, this talking point always comes from cringeworthy normie liberal progressive types who drifted politically from "democracy" to "democratic socialism" and who have never had to contend with these issues seriously.
To these people, the horrors of actual socialist regimes don't even count because that wasn't real socialism anyway. In their minds, socialism isn't bad stuff like gulags and secret police. It's good stuff like public libraries, and the only problem is that there isn't enough of it. Good stuff scales infinitely, so we just need to promote more of it and everything will be good, not bad. It would be silly to include the bad stuff, so we just wouldn't do it.
This isn't some exaggeration on my part for comedic effect. They are 100% that naive. I know because I've met them. I've spoken with them, sometimes at length. Actual socialists see them as useful idiots, while quietly holding them in contempt.
