Socialism

Floor Speech

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Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to talk about a word that is everywhere, a word that is the response to every idea that we come up with, and that word is ``socialism.''

It is a scary word. It is a magical word. It is the word that comes up every time Democrats propose a plan to better educate America's children--socialism; to make the elderly more secure in their retirement--socialism; to make healthcare available to people in this country who still can't see a doctor--socialism.

It is a magical word because, if you say ``socialism,'' then it allows you to hide the fact that you actually don't have a counterplan, that when the Democrats say here are a bunch of plans to make healthcare better and you don't have a plan, you just say ``socialism,'' and that could end the conversation.

It is a magical word because it allows you to distract from the fact that, if you actually do the things to better educate America's children or to make America's retirees more secure in their retirement or to make healthcare more available, that costs a little money. The problem with that is that, for my Republican colleagues, that money needs to go into tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country and for corporations. That is a problem.

By the way, it is not a new thing. This has been going on for 100 years. I have a quote here from President Reagan. He is talking about Medicare here:

And behind it will come other Federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we know it in this country until, one day, we will awake to find that we have socialism.

Ronald Reagan promised us that Medicare, probably one of the most successful programs this country has ever put forward, would lead to socialism. It goes back before that.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who did so much to make for the decency that is endemic in this country after the Depression, the Securities and Exchange Commission so that our capitalist economy would be a fair economy, the progressive income tax so we could actually fund our military and fund education--all socialism. He was a traitor to his class. He was a socialist. This goes way back.

So having quoted Ronald Reagan, let me quote another great leader, Inigo Montoya, in ``The Princess Bride.'' He says: ``You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.''

So what does socialism mean? What is socialism?

Here is the dictionary definition. It is a system in which there is no private property or a system in which the government owns the means of production.

What is that? Is Medicare socialist? At Mount Sinai or Sloan Kettering, are those hospitals or doctors working for the government? Of course not.

Was Dodd-Frank socialist? No. Dodd-Frank put in place regulations that have allowed JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and all those banks to be more profitable than ever before. That is not socialism.

What is particularly interesting is socialism is just a lot of government in your economy. I took time to look at States where government is actually a big part of the economy. You can look this up, Mr. Speaker.

There is an article called, ``The Top Five Most Socialist States.'' West Virginia, Alaska, Wyoming, Mississippi, and Arkansas are the five States with the largest percentage of government spending as part of their economy--deep, deep red States. The top five socialist States, Republican.

Now, what about those socialist States that my Republican friends call socialist? Here are a couple of them: California, New York, Massachusetts--that is Taxachusettes.

California: My friend, Devin Nunes, the Representative from California, because they are trying to take plastic out of the Pacific Ocean, called California socialist.

These are the economic powerhouses of the Nation. They have GDPs that look like small countries. They have innovators; they start companies. And the reason for that is because innovators and business people want to start businesses in communities where there are good schools, access to healthcare, and people have the wages to actually buy their products.

So, Mr. Speaker, don't be fooled by that magical word, ``socialism.'' Socialism is what is used to address every effort that we make to make for a more fair and just society. That is not socialism.

These things--increased wages, better healthcare, and better access to education--are not socialism. They are in the finest tradition of making sure that opportunity is available to every American and that the American Dream will not die.

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