331. ⁠America’s Silent Socialist Shift⁠

Introduction

0:00Hi, everybody. Cheryl Ackeson here. Welcome to another edition of the Cheryl Ackeson podcast.

0:12In today's podcast, America's silent socialist shift, 11 socialist features the founders never imagined.

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US Founding Principles

1:22The United States, as you probably know, was founded as a democratic republic with a constitution that explicitly limits federal power, protects individual liberties, and restrains government from overreaching into private life and the economy. The framers emphasized enumerated powers, separation of powers, federalism, and checks and balances to prevent the concentration of authority that they thought could lead to tyranny. Yet over time, particularly since the progressive

1:52era and accelerating through the New Deal, Great Society, and subsequent expansions, American society has adopted numerous features of socialism and communism. These include centralized government control over key sectors, heavy redistribution of resources from producers to non-producers, expansive regulatory bureaucracies, and a cultural shift toward viewing the state as the

2:22primary solver of social and economic problems. While the U.S. retains capitalist markets and democratic elections, these developments represent a gradual drift toward collectivist principles, state ownership or heavy direction of production from each according to each according to his ability to each according to his need. These contrast with the founder's vision of limited government. Today, I'm going to outline

11 Socialist Features

2:5111 notable examples of America's silent socialist shift. Number one, government as solver of all problems. The U.S. Constitution aimed to create a limited federal government with only specific enumerated powers, leaving most authority to states and individuals under the Tenth Amendment. The framers feared centralized power, drawing from experience under British rule. They designed our system to prevent government from

3:21trying to address every societal ill. But over time, especially during the New Deal under FDR in the 1930s, this shifted dramatically. The Supreme Court initially resisted but ultimately acquiesced, enabling vast expansions under the Commerce Clause and general welfare interpretations. Today, many politicians, both Democrat and Republican, tend to portray government as the default solution for issues like poverty, health care, education, and

3:52housing through expensive programs, mandates, and agencies. This paternalistic view echoes socialist ideology, where the state directs society rather than the constitutional emphasis on individual responsibility and limited intervention. Federal spending now exceeds 23% of gross domestic product, with mandatory programs dominating far beyond the founders' constrained vision. Number two, redistribution of wealth with progressive

4:25taxation and an expansive welfare system. A core tenet of socialism and communism is redistributing wealth from those who work in the wealthy, producers, to support non-workers or the less productive. This is often justified today as equity. The U.S. federal tax system is highly progressive. This means people don't pay the same percentage, which naturally would result in people paying a greater amount when they earn more, but

4:56instead, earners pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes as they earn more, increasing their burden and responsibility for the act of making more income. Therefore, individual income taxes are funded disproportionately by higher earners. Combined with payroll taxes, federal revenue hovers around 17 to 18% of gross domestic product in recent years. These funds support a massive welfare and entitlement apparatus.

5:28In recent fiscal years, federal welfare spending has surpassed $1.3 trillion in direct costs. It includes programs like food stamps or SNAP, with costs rising sharply from earlier decades, temporary assistance for needy families, that's called TANF, supplemental security income, SSI, and housing aid. Broader mandatory spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid exceeds $4 trillion annually in baselines, with total government welfare approaching or exceeding an estimated $1.8 trillion.

6:04For the purposes of budgeting, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are not categorized as welfare, a debatable point, but that's the way it is. The number of people getting SNAP or food stamps has grown significantly, often with limited or no work requirements. Initially envisioned as a stopgap to help people through emergencies, these forms of welfare have become a way of life for many able-bodied Americans and their families. Critics argue this creates dependency, mirroring communist class struggle

6:36redistribution. Costs ballooned due to expansions in demographics far from the limited safety net implied under the Constitution. Additionally, we all know these programs have become rife with waste, fraud, and abuse, meaning taxpayers are being forced to send a great deal of their money down the drain. Number three, government-run or heavily subsidized health care. Socialized medicine is a hallmark of socialized systems. The U.S. has moved in this direction with Medicare for the elderly and disabled,

7:08beginning back in 1965, and Medicaid for the poor. The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare in 2010 greatly expanded the definition of what we view as poor to make millions more eligible. It also added mandates, subsidies, and exchanges at a substantial cost to taxpayers. Government now heavily directs health care allocation, pricing, and access covering or subsidizing over 150 million people through public

7:40programs or tax benefits. Concurrent with this shift, health care costs have risen sharply and Americans have become sicker. This transformation from market-driven care to state-influenced universal access echoes the single-payer models in socialist-leaning nations. Number four, public education system with federal influence and funding. Our current public K-12 education system is funded primarily by state and local

8:12taxes, but shaped by federal mandates and money. Federal dollars account for 8 to 10 percent of total spending. This system resembles state-controlled schooling and socialist systems where government molds curricula and values. The Department of Education amplifies influence through grants tied to its priorities, despite education being left to the states under the Constitution. Total U.S. education spending exceeds a trillion dollars annually with federal involvement in standards, testing, and equity

8:45programs. This centralizes control over what children learn in contrast with the Founders' decentralized approach. It also enables ideological influence and opens the door to waste fraud and abuse. Number five, expansive federal regulatory state. Communist and socialist regimes feature heavy state regulation of the economy. The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations has ballooned dramatically since the mid-20th century with agencies with agencies like the EPA, OSHA, FDA, and others imposing detailed rules on businesses,

9:22environment, labor, and more. Today, the act of opening a business or engaging in commerce is frequently mired in daunting and costly bureaucracy. From owning a vehicle to buying property, the government now reaches into and exerts control over virtually every facet of our lives. This administrative state directs private activity without direct ownership, increasing compliance costs and slowing innovation, a gradual erosion of free market

9:52principles in favor of centralized planning. Number six, social security and entitlement programs as forced social insurance. Social security, approaching its 100-year anniversary in 2035, functions as a government-mandated pension system pooling contributions for redistribution. This is classic socialist social insurance. Combined with Medicare, these programs dominate today's federal spending. Payroll taxes fund

10:25current beneficiaries, creating intergenerational transfers of money. Yes, social security is popular, but it represents state control over retirement savings with trustees projecting rising costs as a share of GDP due to demographics, straining the system and echoing collectivist resource allocation over individual provision. Additionally, auditors have documented rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs. Number seven, subsidized housing and public housing programs. Government-provided housing is

11:00common in socialist systems. The U.S. Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program assists millions of low-income households with tenants paying a portion of income, while federal taxpayers are forced to cover the rest. Broader housing and urban development rental aid runs into tens of billions of dollars in costs annually. There are also state-owned or managed units. Originating from New Deal-era efforts, these programs redistribute resources for shelter. Critics say they frequently led to dependency and inefficiency

11:34shifting from private markets to government-mediated access. Number eight, agricultural subsidies and corporate welfare elements. Socialist economies often feature state direction of production. U.S. farm subsidies and price supports total billions a year. They shield agriculture from market forces, distorting supply and benefiting specific chosen groups at taxpayer expense. Critics point to the government subsidy of foods at interests

12:05that hire well-paid and power lobbyists. In some cases, the result has been to produce a great deal of food that is unhealthy, but cheaper than healthy food. Additionally, our food is often being produced using toxic chemicals and means that are making the population sick with chronic diseases, including cancer, yet the industries are protected and indemnified by the government since they are government partners. Broader corporate welfare, such as subsidies, bailouts, and tax breaks for favored industries,

12:37picks winners resembling cronyist elements of state-directed economies rather than pure capitalism. Number nine, public sector unions and government as employer and bargainer. In many states, public sector unions negotiate with government employers they help elect. This creates a feedback loop fraught with conflicts of interest. It gives unions influence over wages, benefits, and policy in education, policing, and administration

13:07without normal private sector profit constraints. Collective bargaining in the public sector can lead to higher costs and political power, contrasting with the founders' wariness of factional interests dominating the government. Number 10, the surveillance state and abuses against citizens and the press. A defining feature of communist and authoritarian regimes is pervasive state surveillance to monitor, intimidate, and control the population. In the U.S., this is manifested through the post-9-11 expansion

13:41of intelligence powers, most notably through programs like the National Security Agency's PRISM, revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013. That allowed collection of internet communications from major tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and more under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA. Originally intended for foreign targets, it has enabled overreaching backdoor warrantless searches of Americans' data by the FBI, the NSA, and others. Millions of queries in recent years

14:19have targeted journalists, political figures, and ordinary citizens improperly. FISA court opinions have repeatedly documented, quote, persistent and widespread FBI violations, such as improper queries for domestic investigations unrelated to national security. And that's just the bits that we're able to find out about. Much of the government's secret surveillance and abuses presumably have remained secret. Historical precedents include the FBI's COINTELPRO back in 1956 through 1971, which surveilled and

14:53disrupted civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., anti-war activists and political groups through infiltration, wiretaps, and disinformation. In 1975, the government's Church Committee exposed these and other abuses by the CIA, NSA, and IRS. More recently, the federal government has been caught secretly obtaining phone records of journalists under the auspices of leak investigations and monitoring journalists covering sensitive topics. In my case, the government got caught intruding upon my work and

15:27personal computers and devices when I was an investigative correspondent at CBS News starting in the 2011 time period. Nobody was ever held accountable for these violations, even when forensics proved the government nature of the intrusions, and even after a former federal agent admitted his involvement. Using surveillance tools against the press and political figures chills reporting and discourages oversight of the agencies doing the improper spying. These practices, mass data collection,

15:58improper gathering of Americans' communications, and targeting of media, echo the totalitarian control in socialist and communist systems. Under those systems, the state suppresses dissent and maintains power through secret policing. This is contrary to the founders' emphasis on privacy and limited government. And lastly, number 11, environmental and social mandates with central planning overtones. Expansive regulations on energy emissions and green energy initiatives direct private industry toward

16:34state-preferred outcomes akin to central planning and socialist systems. They also force ideological theory onto the populace, even when it's proven to be unscientific or harmful. Combined with equity or diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused policies in government, this prioritizes collective social goals over individual or market-driven decisions, expanding bureaucratic reach into daily economic and cultural life. These examples illustrate incremental changes, often well-intentioned,

17:09that have layered socialist-like mechanisms onto the republic's framework. Many characteristics of socialism and communism have been adopted and widely accepted by all sides of our political system. The result is a hybrid system with greater government scope, dependency, redistribution, and intrusion than the constitution envisioned. It raises questions about individual liberty and the risk of further erosion. Even without electing socialist and communist leaders, are we already headed down the road toward

17:42the sort of socialist-communist society that our forefathers strived to avoid? In a moment, the Democrat Party's shift left toward socialism and communism.

Democrat Party Shift

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18:24Hadaday! Eye drops that work all day to prevent the release of histamines that cause itchy, allergy eyes! And the winner, by knockout, is Hadaday! Hadaday, bring it on! Socialism and communism emerged in the early to mid-1800s, followed by a long and disastrous string of failures. The National Socialist German Workers' Party, or the Nazis, advocated to abolish earned income and seize private property and industries, though historians today disavow the Nazis' socialist links.

19:02The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, was the world's first communist country. We know how poorly that turned out. Under the communist revolutionary Mao, there was China's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, Cambodia under the radical communist party Khmer Rouge, communist North Korea, communist East Germany, socialist Venezuela, and communist Cuba, together resulting in tens of millions of deaths from execution, starvation, and political violence.

19:33Not long ago, openly embracing ideologies linked to those disasters could end a Democrat's career, but today, it's increasingly worn as a badge of honor. In the U.S., Bernie Sanders is the only senator to openly identify as a Democratic Socialist. Once dismissed as a marginal figure, he proved remarkably popular when he challenged Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. The Democratic Socialists of America reports approximately 250 of its members or endorsed candidates

20:07now hold elected office across 40 states, with 90% of these 250 people elected in just the past six years, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In the end, despite the shifts that we've talked about, the U.S. does retain dominant private enterprise, capital markets, and individual property rights, making it more like a European-style social democracy than classic centralized planning.

20:37But unchecked expansion of the trends that we've discussed risks financial strain, slower growth, and greater dependency. Projections by the Congressional Budget Office show that federal debt, as you probably know, is rising sharply to 120% of gross domestic product by 2036, and far higher in the long term, driven by these entitlements, health costs, and interests, with deficits averaging over 6% of GDP,

21:08meaning we continue to spend far more than we're taking in, and we're already taxing people a lot. This path could crowd out private investment, pressure future tax hikes or benefit cuts, and erode incentives for work and innovation. That's if transfers grow without corresponding reforms. We've seen that historical examples of heavy state economic control, socialist experiments, often produced inefficiency shortages,

21:39and authoritarianism, something you'd think we wouldn't want to copy. Sustainable outcomes in the U.S. depend on us balancing these safety nets

Balancing Safety Nets

21:48with fiscal discipline and productivity growth, and market dynamism, continuing to reward free enterprise and individual effort. If we do it right, it could potentially lead to higher living standards for many, if not all, but we risk stagnation, political friction, and worse if it's not done right.

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