Well OK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism#United_States


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_liberalism


I can support theoretical anti-communism because Man as an animal is even worse modeled by Marxist economic theory than the "rational decision makers" of Smith and Keynes.

I can support applied anti-communism because communist states begin with the need to diminish the individual and have an appalling record of human rights and a great tendency to become a police state.

I can support combating political dogma which has resulted in anti-scientific atrocities like the famous embrace of Lysenkoism or rejection of "Jewish physics." Indeed, communism seems to have been kept alive in the Soviet Union due to the strength of dogmatic thinking, in the face of facts that were inconvenient to dogma.

But the spectrum of ideas is not one-dimensional. That the state has some role in the relationship between employer and employee does not demonstrate socialism any more than the fact that the state has a role in the marriage process demonstrates that the state practices eugenics. A state can both guarantee civil rights and enforce minimum wage and heathcare laws on employers. A state can both deny all political rights to its people and embrace capitalism.

Yes, elements of the United States government have taken on Orwellian police state overtones, but if anything this is reactionary mechanism with overtones of a fascist police state. While not fascism, it is a conjunction of the social conservatism of "don't trust brown people" with religious and militaristic overtones, driven by over a decade of media reinforcement of nationalism and the rejection of rational thought.

If anything, we need to get back to a stronger support of civil rights, protecting the individual from the predations of the corruptible police apparatus and the moneyed elite of soulless corporations run by heartless management focus on short term value. I don't know if Bill Gates is a parasite or not, but his company is notorious for rotating blocks of "contract workers" out of work just to evade actually calling them employees. Actual banks lie to themselves about the value of holding underwater mortgages so that their principles can "earn" twice the bonuses than if they bit the bullet and accepted the fact that they goofed. The practice of pensions has all but disappeared in the professional world, and they were constantly subject to predation. Even academic tenure is being questioned.

Also "OpEdNews" is not a publication of good reputation. They have apparently no editorial standards, and so your "article" looks more than a bit crazy-pants, Professor.