A favorite goal of Democrats has always been either outright nationalization of private businesses or enough regulation to accomplish the same thing in effect; that brings us to measure (vii) of Question 18:
“Increase in the number of national factories, workshops, railroads, ships; bringing new lands into cultivation and improvement of land already under cultivation – all in proportion to the growth of the capital and labor force at the disposal of the nation.”
At the time Engels wrote this Russia, Germany, England, and others already had publicly-funded, government-owned industries; England’s railroads, the Tsar’s armament factories, and so forth. So the idea of nationalized industry was not as far-fetched as it might seem; even today, state-run media and transportation are more the rule than the exception. In the United States, the Democrats have been chasing this Holy Grail of Communism: it’s the Holy Grail because it cements the State’s role as the owner and provider of all, for all. This was an essential and often bloody step in every Communist revolution to date but Democrats have been trying to sneak this one in under the radar for years. It’s all over their 2020 Platform, and of course railroads figure prominently:
“We will launch our country’s second great railroad revolution by investing in high-speed rail and passenger and freight rail systems, and commit to public transportation as a public good, including ensuring transit jobs are good jobs.”
“We will help transform Amtrak from a laggard to a leader in passenger rail accessibility and ensure people with disabilities can receive compensation when disability equipment, like wheelchairs, are lost or damaged by transportation carriers.”
“Democrats will invest to ensure passenger transportation, including public transit, is affordable to all and accessible to people with disabilities.”
Now here’s a key thing to keep in mind when Democrats use the word “invest”: what they really mean is “subsidize”. That seems innocuous enough when it comes to roads and bridges, but when it comes to railroads it’s a bald-faced attempt to buy them out: railroads own their rails and rights-of-way, unlike other transportation sectors who use government-funded infrastructure like interstates. So when Democrats want to “invest” in railroads, they really want to make them dependent upon the government to the point where they either cannot function without them or just sell their interests outright. It has already happened once: that’s how we got Amtrak. It doesn’t stop there.
“…Democrats will close the digital divide that deprives more than 20 million Americans of high-speed internet access by investing in broadband and 5G technology, including rural and municipal broadband, while ensuring those investments support good jobs and include strong protections for workers’ rights to organize, and restoring the FCC’s authority to take strong enforcement action against internet service providers who violate net neutrality principles.”
In short, Democrats want the government to be your Internet Service Provider, or at the very least control how ISPs provide service, hire, and fire employees. They also want the FCC to be the arbiter of what’s “fair”, and take control of ISPs they deem “unfair”.
And speaking of controlling how companies hire and fire:
“…Democrats will ensure labor protections, Davis-Bacon wage standards, project labor agreements, collective bargaining neutrality, and domestic sourcing requirements are included in any infrastructure legislation, and will block anti-worker provisions, including forced arbitration.”
They want to be able to specify pay scales, how labor contracts are negotiated, and what can be in those contracts. If they can’t take control of a company outright, they’ll take control of their workforce; once they have control of the workforce they might as well control the company itself.
There is much more included in the 2020 Democratic Party Platform’s “Building A Stronger, Fairer Economy” section, all of it designed to effectively nationalize every sector of the economy. They already tried to nationalize the auto industry in 2008, and continue to try to nationalize healthcare. Energy, transportation, retail, technology…all of them are in the Democrat’s sights.
I hope you have been able to use this insight to connect the dots: Democrats are, and always have been, following a Communist agenda. Until next time.