The revolutionary questions of COVID-19

Specters are haunting America—the specters of socialism. With each dark moment in history, and with every unjust slight, their ethereal tendrils knock at our door. Are they harbingers of evil? Or an earnest warning? Emboldened by the madness of quarantine, we’ve eagerly ushered these ghosties across the threshold for a chat.

You see, COVID-19 is doing something remarkable—it’s altering the nature of our political conversation. As millions of people come face-to-face with the everyday necessities of socialism, it’s making us more open to revolutionary ideas. Through these challenging times, the ghosts of an old, radical American Left are being revived.

Indeed, we are experiencing a seismic shift in our consciousness as the empty promises and sneering jibes of the so-called elite are laid bare. Once the talking points of edge-case politics, discussed in hushed tones and on niche forums, we’re beginning to see far-left ideas take center stage in popular apps and mainstream media, as often arriving through novel revelation as they do in the essays of studied writers.

Let’s meet the new old spirits of American politics…

Specter One: Medicare For All

This is the big one we’re all familiar with. Right now, regardless of personal opinion, Americans are no doubt familiar with most or all of the talking points surrounding this issue. In the 2020 Democratic primary, the rhetorical roadblock that Medicare for All (M4A) most often came up against was, roughly, “Americans who like their insurance should be able to keep it.”

Never mind that millions of Americans can’t afford insurance. Never mind that M4A would, by its very nature, be cheaper and more effective than any insurance available to 99% of Americans. Never mind all that.

What COVID-19 has showed 17 million Americans (so far) is that you can’t always keep your insurance, even in our current system. With the backbone of American health insurance being employer-based, once you lose your job, you lose your access to affordable healthcare.

For the first time, millions of previously unaffected Americans are grappling with the starkly personal effects of a profit-driven healthcare system. For the first time, more and more Americans are seeing the essential necessity of a good, socialized healthcare system.

Specter Two: Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income, aka UBI, became something of a rising star over the last year or so, marshaled up through the talking-point ranks by one-time presidential hopeful, Andrew Yang.

UBI is not a new idea. In fact, the modern conception can be traced back over five centuries, and in the intervening time it’s been much debated and refined, with several schools of thought developing and many experiments being carried out.

Yang’s candidacy introduced the concept to a modern audience and brought new supporters into the ideological fold. However, it was the massive and sudden job loss caused by COVID-19 that gave Yang’s proposals a practical backdrop to be seen against.

With so many people out of work through no fault of their own, how could it be right that they lose their homes or begin to starve? Certainly, they’d already paid their taxes to the system. Certainly, they’d already nurtured corporate profits in their careers. And now, in a moment of need, what do they have to show for it?

The amount of food in the world hasn’t gone down. The number of homes hasn’t shrunk. The reservoirs haven’t dried up. If there were enough resources previously to care for everyone, then surely those resources exist now as well. How do we square this?

We’ve all done our part—maybe we should get a share of it. A little money from the coffers we ourselves have filled to make sure we get our roof and bread and water in times both good and bad.

Specter Three: Housing as Human Right

As money began to dry up near the end of the month, a massive expense loomed on the calendar: rent. Soon, people were calling for a rent strike. The reactions to this were many and varied.

One common refrain from landlords (and their sympathizers) was, “If tenants don’t pay rent, then I can’t pay the bank.” One reasonable response to the landlords was, “Organize a mortgage strike then.”  Another, more lefty response was to tell the landlords that they shouldn’t own homes they don’t live in to begin with.

Rent is a ransom, or so the argument goes. Landlords buy up the domiciles and then threaten you with homelessness should you not give them the money they’re asking for. As with the discussion surrounding healthcare, it’s hard to make rational economic decisions when your life is on the line.

Perhaps, some have suggested, housing itself should be a right.

This leads almost invariably to scoffing. “Oh, so then I guess food should be a right too, hunh?”

Specter Four: Food as Human Right

Yes. Yes it should. That’s the response you might hear in a collective voice that’s louder than ever. If healthcare is a right, then why not food?

As stated, the amount of food never decreased. The only thing that went away was people’s access to pieces of paper that they could exchange for food. What if we took out the middleman? What if we said, “Hey, we’ve got some bread—here, have some.”

If insulin is a human right, then why not bread? Why not?

Specter Five: Essential Work

Before the idea of “essential workers” became a headline, it wasn’t especially common to see grocery workers, janitors, or fast food employees taking a strong, proud stance, and it was even rarer to see people stick up for them.

However, our “new normal” has shown that a college diploma, fancy title, or billions of dollars don’t make you essential. The output of your labor does.

Without the stuffed shirts of the world, everything moves on. People get fed. That’s what’s important. When the CEO’s office is dark, not much changes. When the local supermarket is unstocked, there’s chaos.

College and training are important and great. We need good people to do technical jobs. But we also need good people to do difficult jobs. Whether you’re eighteen or eighty, you deserve a living wage and real compensation for your work.

If you flip burgers, you’re essential. If you drive a truck, you’re essential. If you clean the streets and hallways, you’re essential. You should be paid like you are. Perhaps you already knew this—now the rest of the country is coming to realize it too.

Putting the Specters to Work

To anyone who thinks all these pie-in-the-sky socialist dreams would lead to sloth and the death of innovation, I ask what you see during these days of quarantine. Stir craze. Cabin fever. Madness. People are naturally productive creatures. Care for their base needs, strip away fear of hunger and cold, and watch with what new fervor they take risks.

Such ideas were hard to discuss before COVID-19, but they’re in the mainstream now. They’re not yet common sense, but they’ve lost some of the tinge of taboo. Let us not exorcise the specters, but exercise them—grow and refine them for a just, productive future.

Image credit: Chris Dlugosz