GOP uses ‘socialism’ to distract and deceive

The Florida election is awash in ludicrous Republican accusations of socialism. Plans for a hurricane insurance fund are socialist. Ranked-choice voting is socialist. New residents are suspected of being “radicals.” David Jolly, the ex-GOP congressman running for governor as a moderate Democrat, is a Trojan horse, hiding his true socialist agenda until he gets to the Governor’s Mansion, according to the Tribune News Service.

“It’s either socialism or patriotism,” said Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power. It’s neither. That’s absurd. The idea that Jolly would impose extremist policies as governor is a scare tactic that defies logic. Even if he won and suddenly ripped off his shirt to reveal a hammer-and-sickle tattoo, how would Jolly enact socialist policies when Republicans hold a supermajority in the Legislature?

But apparently, Jolly’s proposal for a state hurricane fund to alleviate high insurance costs would bring Florida to the brink of a socialist takeover. Ranked-choice voting has always had critics, but now it’s a sign of creeping socialism. Capping utilities’ profits, which the Public Service Commission consistently fails to do, would put Florida on the road to Moscow.

Then there’s the simmering race in the coastal 25th Congressional District between Democratic US Rep. Jared Moskowitz and Republican Scott Singer.

Moskowitz easily beat Democratic Socialist Oliver Larkin in their primary. But it didn’t stop Singer from ludicrously declaring on Fox News that Moskowitz will have to cater to socialists to win. Singer is even worried about covert socialists relocating to West Boca: Some new residents, he said, are “radicals influencing our state.”

This nonsense has gone too far, says a Republican elected official in Manatee County, south of Tampa. “It is really starting to feel like it’s being used to re-label and define those who simply want more affordability and less corporate cronyism,” said George Kruse. “I believe the Florida voters, of both parties, deserve an honest debate this election cycle, not lazy scare tactics.”

But socialism is the official party line, from the White House on down. President Donald Trump, who uses socialism and communism interchangeably, says Democrats are communists and communism is the biggest threat to America since two world wars and 9/11.

This sudden obsession is clearly designed to give Republican candidates a badly needed talking point. They can’t talk about Americans struggling with high grocery prices, unaffordable housing and nonexistent health insurance when the head of their party dismisses affordability as a hoax and insists that we’re living in a Golden Age. And that’s why left-wing candidates are winning. It’s not ideology — it’s bread-and-butter issues. The best example is Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Her campaign message in the Democratic primary for US Senate was dominated by affordability. Outspent by 13-to-1, she won easily.

To Cubans in South Florida, socialism is synonymous with Castro, so labeling candidates as such resonates with them. But not all socialism involves dictators. Sweden, Norway and Denmark all have free elections and capitalist economies and are socialist countries providing free health care and college.

That’s not to say America should follow suit. But a Democratic Socialist’s call for universal Medicare is not the same as undermining democracy. If anyone is pushing America toward socialism, it is Trump. Even as he denounces it as a “mortal danger,” he embraces a core principle of socialism: federal control of private companies.

To date, the US has secured financial stakes in 30 companies and in Venezuela. It’s not just ownership. The US could veto major decisions by US Steel. Companies may be required to provide intellectual property licenses or money from royalties.