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Fremont High School
the
by Miranda Kushner-Pér Photo Editor
In an age where commodities seem to be everything, money is what determines someone’s place in their society. Although the message that hard work breeds success is ground into Americans throughout their lives, to some people, the reality is otherwise. This discrepancy was brought to the forefront of national attention in the 2016 presidential election, when Democratic Socialist candidate Bernie Sanders won nearly half of the popular vote in the Democratic Primaries. His energetic speeches and ideals led thousands of people across the country to wonder “what is socialism?”, making that term one of the most popular Google searches of the year. Any history student knows the basic definition of socialism, which is an economic system based on equality and wealth distribution. But something less widely understood is how these Marxist ideals come into play now. Although there are several socialist organizations in America now, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are the largest group, having seen their membership nearly quadruple over one year, reaching 25,000 due-paying members, the highest membership of an American socialist party since before World War II. What led to such a growth
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PHOENIX
Vol. 6 Issue No. 4 Feb 2, 2018
Youth Revolution
in numbers? For many newly socialist students, their switch to socialist ideology is due to the presence of inequality in their lives. “[I] converted to socialism because society forgets working class people,” Mountain View High School junior, Ruth Herrera-Flores, explained, “People of the top 1 percent live luxuriously, while poor people break their backs preventing the economy from crashing.” For many teens, it is growing up with fewer opportunities than their more well-off friends that makes them aware of injustices. “Socialism appealed to me because it gives people who have talents and skills but no way to express or pursue them because of financial issues a way to do so,” Los Altos High junior Andie Chan said. “I found out that if you’re not born with a ton of money, it’s harder to get to the same place as people who are richer.” It is not just teens from working class families that are turning to socialism. Even for higher middle class people, capitalism has been a disappointment as well. “The fact that ‘nonprofits’ can profit off of creating academic gateways that less advantaged students cannot pass through [has let me down],” explains Fremont High junior Shobhana Shreedhar. “The numerous loopholes that rich people use to stay rich and get richer really frustrates me
too.”
What Shreedhar is referring to is The College Board, the so-called nonprofit that runs tests such as the SAT and the AP program. While more well off students can afford to take as many AP tests as their schedules allow, even supplementing with paid preparatory classes, less advantaged students are unable to take these expensive tests for college credit. On top of that, College Board charges students to send scores to colleges, creating another area where people with more money have more opportunities. Even in the area of educational opportunities, which should be straightforward and fair, the economically advantaged higher classes are more equipped to move ahead while everyone else remains in a selfperpetuating cycle of being unable to attend college to afford a better life for their children. Despite this disconnect between capitalism and achievement that many see, many others still have faith in the traditional system. “The free market drives innovation and in many cases, does this better than the state,” says junior Alex Marquez. “I think [socialist] concerns with our current system are valid, but a state run system is not the most efficient or sustainable.” Among the younger generation, that seems to be the main counteropinion to socialism. But for
many adults, the attitude is far more polarized, with prominent Democrats, such as House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, explicitly distancing the Democratic Party from any aspect of socialism, even more conservative teens are open to some aspects of socialism. “I don’t think that the state controlling all industries would be reasonable,” added Marquez, “but public necessities like healthcare, the military and education should be left to the state.” In general, that seems to be the prevailing attitude towards these issues, especially healthcare. In fact, it was the very issue of healthcare that became so prominent in the decisive 2016 presidential elections. The DSA has made the establishment of nationalized single-payer healthcare one of its main platforms for many years, making use of the slogan “healthcare is a human right.” The necessity of singlepayer —or at least universal— healthcare was made apparent through incidents such as when in late 2017, American Shane Boyle passed away because his GoFundMe for insulin fell $50 short. This is one such example of what Shreedhar described as a “lack of a safety net for those who are less advantaged,” just one of the things that has led young adults to be dismayed with the current capitalist system. Not only has capitalism
been disappointing to many, but there are successful examples of democratic socialist countries. Norway, for example, is well-known as a democratic socialist country. With its high taxation rate contributing to far more benefits than American citizens experience, such as paid parental leave, free college education and free childcare, the Norwegian standard of living is much higher than America’s. The same holds true for other Scandinavian countries that adhere to what is known as the Nordic system.
Socialism appealed to me because it gives people who have talent and skills but no way to express or pursue them because of financial issues a way to do so Andie chan
The fact that there are so many functional examples of democratic socialist countries, while the United States is hesitant to even implement free college education, is absurd to many people, especially students for whom the idea of spending their adult lives thousands of dollars
in debt from student loans will probably be a reality, with the average American $30,000 in debt. Interestingly enough, despite how the unpleasant parts of the current American system directly affect teenagers, for the most part, teenagers are not taken seriously in matters of politics. “[We] are also treated as if we don’t know anything when we have a different experience than the norm.” Shreedhar said when asked about teenagers being taken seriously in regards to this topic. In most political movements, it is the teens who are at the forefront of action and activism, something that the DSA recognizes in their jokes about “the dictatorship of the teen” and their YDSA (Young Democratic Socialists of America) groups. With such widespread acceptance of teenagers in their movement, this is a group that has potential to remain and keep evolving. No matter what political inclination one leans towards, history has shown that teenage involvement is very important for change. Although teenage enthusiasm is vital to driving the socialist movement forward, to put it in Shreedhar’s words, “the more teens are taken seriously, the closer we get to making progress in our society.”