I’ve always been perplexed by people who make an enemy out of socialism. What is socialism but the guarantee of essential services and protections for oppressed peoples? For example, who can genuinely be angry with rent stabilization policies besides a landlord who doesn’t want to give their tenants a fair deal?

Beyond rent stabilization, policies pursuing free and equal education, housing, jobs, and peace doesn’t sound like some hellscape, but rather pursuing a better American society. The Republican establishment, of which Donald Trump is the ringleader, is just tricking you into serving the billionaire class which is actually harming the working class and poor.

Donald Trump is a billionaire. He isn’t interested in your bottom line only his. For example, do you really think Trump and his Republican buddies in Washington would have gut SNAP benefits if he cared about the working class and poor? There is a vision for the country that does and that is socialism. No, it doesn’t look like the Soviet example of tanks running over civilians or China’s example of Red Guards lawlessly parading around the country and having show trials against rightists.

Instead, socialism in this country looks like the poor being housed and fed, the elderly being cared for, universal healthcare, universal and free education, a foreign policy based on always attempting peaceful relations, and the disintegration of power structures that oppress people including African-Americans, Native-Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans and so many other oppressed groups.

Those who try to turn socialism into a dirty word are scared of the possibility and power of what an empowered and knowledgeable people can do with a democracy. Please don’t let them scare you out of your own future which is so much brighter than the current moment.