Democratic socialism

by Becky Peters, Hamilton

People have been manipulated about the differences between such terms  as  communism, socialism, capitalism, fascism, and democratic socialism. One term, Democratic socialism, is defined by what’s important for the good of the society: individual liberties, empowered working people, civil rights, capitalism, private businesses, all with some levels of government help. These social policies are about the protection of the people and the state, for the common good. One other term that people seem confused about is socialism. Socialism is defined as having a powerful central control of the economy while prioritizing collective goals. 

Every United States citizen lives in a democratic socialistic country. You are a democratic socialist. Don’t agree? Then, don’t call the police if you have been robbed, don’t call the fire department if the embers in your fireplace get out of hand, don’t use the library or post office, don’t care about having our country’s children educated, don’t drive on our roads, work for less than minimum wage, let your child work hard in a factory, don’t use public transportation, don’t go to a city park, and by all means, don’t use Medicare or a social security check. Ouch! Now, have you noticed – far right, authoritarian religions like to  manipulate these terms so that people become anti-benefits? So, what’s happening in our own country?

Since January 2025 we have lost much of our decades’ long work to attain beneficial programs for all  because of  these “make America great again”/doge tactics. The Trump administration has cut or frozen almost $177 billion in federal grants/funding for the country. What does that mean for Montana? According to www.lostfunds.org Montana has lost $608 million that we were needing. Which programs lost what? For example: $7.2 million for sustainable farming discontinued. $16 million for household energy efficiency upgrades gone. $90 million for disaster relief slashed. Almost $2 million of community loans slowed down. $56.7 million to SNAP obliterated. $159 million  infectious disease control terminated. Over $70 million of grants for health organizations cancelled. $3.5 million in violence prevention cut. $6.8 million that would be providing locally grown school lunch ended. Who, or what, or if anyone, is going to take over for these various programs? Not the huge, oligarchal corporations that are close friends of Trump’s, that’s for sure. They are making too much money to care about you; they are just waiting like hungry snakes till they can privatize these programs. That means,  without our democratic socialist programs, you might end up paying directly out of your pocket to a private, for-profit business to hose off your house if it’s on fire. Man, I wonder how much that will cost us??