The Weaponization of Socialism is one of the Greatest Marketing Schemes in American History
A diamond may be forever, but the ruling class’ weaponization of socialism is losing strength. To understand how conservatives have successfully used anti-socialism campaigns to gaslight the struggles of the working-class, we must venture to the late 1800s when infamous businessman, Cecil Rhodes, monopolized South Africa’s diamond trade.
Rhodes’ company, The De Beers Group, held control over the supply and demand of the strongest natural recourse on the planet. The monopoly slowly began to crumble when miners discovered diamonds all around the world. Supply skyrocketed as the diamond rush roared and a dramatic price drop followed.
The company needed something big to save their profit. And in the 1950s, they developed what one of the most successful marketing campaigns in history, earning the title as the most well-known name in the diamond industry.
This one company fundamentally changed marriage proposals, establishing the cultural practices we know today. They launched an advertising campaign titled “A diamond is forever,” and single-handedly convinced the American public of the need for a beautiful, expensive diamond ring to impress with a proposal.
The diamond became a forever gift, something that should never be resold or re-gifted outside of a family. The De Beers dramatically increased demand and by slashing the resale value, limited supply. Prices soared and their profits were saved.
Only one advertising campaign rivals the impact of “A diamond is forever.” It is the systematic attack of pro-worker policy as a form of dangerous socialism that needs reigning in by conservative politicians. We are talking about a campaign created by the very top percentage of earners that helped lead the way to a massive concentration of wealth.
Today, conservative news media have made Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez the poster child for socialism in America. In September of 2019, a super PAC named New Faces GOP debuted an attack ad depicting a photo of her slowly burning in flames. The photo overlaid several disturbing photos showing the aftermath of authoritarian genocidal regimes.
“This is the face of socialism and ignorance. Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know the horrors of socialism?” asks the voiceover. This kind of attack against working-class fighters is not new. It has been a concerted campaign to successfully divide Americans and hide a massive shift of income and wealth inequality.
The ruling class has been trying to convince Americans that liberals will lead the next quasi-Nazi dictatorship since before Ronald Regan, who infamously warned–what is now the most popular health insurance program in the nation–that Medicare would bring about a socialist dictatorship.
After four terms of Democratic presidents strengthening Medicare, 72% of Americans approve of the landmark “socialist” program. (I should also mention, none of those four terms of Democratic leadership have led America into an authoritarian dictatorship).
Let’s, for a moment, entertain the idea that politicians like AOC and Bernie Sanders are secretly part of a deep state plan to upend American freedom. It would be quite counterintuitive for the platforms of alleged authoritarians to make strengthening infrastructure, extending public education, universalizing health care, and enhancing the rights of our working-class their central policy goals.
So what if these liberal populists who embrace democratic socialism are indeed lying to the American people. Once they are in power, maybe these policy goals become mute? Then why has Bernie Sanders written and introduced the most comprehensive universal health care bill of our generation? Why did Sanders and AOC team up to fight against Amazon when they attempted to steal the Bronx from poor working-class families?
Why do they show up to Congress every day making a tangible, transformative change that benefits nearly all Americans? If you were planning to overthrow the constitution and institute a dictatorship, would you dramatically strengthen the majority of America with more education, a living wage, voting and civil rights? Vladimir Putin certainly would not.
The ultra-wealthy and well-connected echelons in this country have branded socialism to strike fear in the eyes of voters and to trick them against voting for the policy that works to protect our working-class. When in reality, the term“socialism” has been used to attack any program that reverses a massive shift in income and wealth.
Through fueling public sentiment against efficient social safety-nets that are paid for by progressive taxing of the ultra-wealthy, they have been able to continue hijacking the largest economy in the world, managing to concentrate record amounts of wealth.
Shown above are the astonishing results of one Harvard Study into Americans’ understanding of inequality. The bars indicate what Americans think the wealth distribution is versus what they believe is the ideal distribution versus the reality.
Americans are left in the dark about how bad the levels of wealth and income inequality are in this country. The reality of wealth distribution is astronomically different from our ideal.
Why are American’s so uninformed about the concentration of wealth among the top percentage of Americans? Over the past few decades, the American news media have been bought up and consolidated by some of the richest people in our country.
One company, Sinclair Broadcasting, whose largest shareholder controls stock worth over $200 million, can control news coverage to about 70% of Americans. Sinclair is a conservative-leaning company that has bought almost 200 local news channels all across the country. The company often issues “must air” segments across the country to their local channels.
In 2018 a video showing a montage of these stations pedaling Trump talking points about fake news went viral. See it for yourself:
This kind of consolidation and control over American news consumption threatens legitimate journalism and our first amendment right to an independent press. It is a tactic used by authoritarian regimes such as China and North Korea.
Maybe you are okay with these massive shifts of income. These ultra-wealthy individuals such as Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, have revolutionize our lives. They must be paying their fair share of taxes, right? You might think we have a progressive tax system, one where the richer you become, the larger your percentage of wealth is taxed. You would be mistaken. When you analyze all different types of taxation, the 400 American billionaires actually pay the smallest percentage of wealth in the nation.
Yes, you read that correctly. Billionaires are not paying their fair share in taxes all while they manufacture and market the idea that programs like Medicare-for-all, free tuition at public colleges and universities, housing for all, a living wage, and a whole host of other social safety nets that lead to a stronger middle class is simply too expensive. Not only is it too expensive, but it will lead to the rule of authoritarian dictatorship and genocide.
Donald Trump, one of the 400 American billionaires, and his Republican-led Congress changed our tax system two years ago. They claimed it would do wonders for the working-class. It is no surprise that this is also an enormous lie along with over 15,413 false claims since taking office.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, 60% of savings went to the top 20% of Americans. The corporate tax rate was cut by 40% and tax revenues have been falling, starving our important social safety nets along with the infrastructure of our country.
The reason America cannot successfully implement these programs is quite obvious. The ruling class has bought our political process, consolidated news media, rewrote our tax system, and created one of the most successful marketing campaigns to convince American workers that a life of dignity is impossible.
Here are the facts: Our country currently has the highest rates of income and wealth inequality since the 1920s. The top 400 billionaires are paying less share than the poorest Americans. 60 of the top fortune 500 companies avoided paying all federal income taxes in 2018.
While the billionaire class has weaponized the word socialism and conflated basic democratic social safety nets with genocide, America is drifting away from democracy and toward an oligarchy.
The very same people who are screaming about authoritarianism have joined China and Russia is attempting to control news consumption. The same people who demand everyone pay their fair share, themselves pay the lowest share of wealth in taxation. The same people who call food stamps entitlements have rewritten the tax system in a way that makes poor Americans pay one of the biggest percentages of their wealth. It is almost as if the Republicans are actually the socialist authoritarians they have been warning about. Socialists for the rich and well-connected only.
The ruling class realizes when working-class people demand a fair shot at success, it means reigning in unlimited greed. Billionaires became rich by using our roads, our airports, our workers. Maybe, just maybe, it is not a radical idea to expect they pay their fair share. If the economic playing field in America was more equitable, the American dream would still be possible.
It gives me no pleasure to tell you that the myth of impending authoritarian socialism by liberal politicians is one of the most successful marketing schemes in American history, aimed at making the billionaire class richer and making the working-class pay for it.
(Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Rhodes had a monopoly over South American mines, when in actuality it was South African mines he controlled.)
