If statements by US presidents are to be taken seriously, a point that wasn’t under much debate till the ascent of Donald Trump, America is taking an interesting turn. As part of a speech to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, Trump took on “communists” within.
While it had faint echoes of the country’s McCarthyist era of anxiety over ‘reds under our beds,’ he did not rail against any ‘evil empire’ of that ideological bent overseas.
Between the end of World II and that of the Cold War 35 years ago, fighting global communism had been a US obsession. Some saw Islamist geopolitics as the next big threat it had identified.
But rightist White House rhetoric is now focused on an alleged red shift in internal politics. The odd part is what’s stirring it. Run-of-the-mill welfare moves by Democrats like health-insurance coverage and subsidies for household-use items have been labelled ‘communist’ by Republican party leaders.
A proper red test, however, would ask if a new policy infringes the right to own assets privately. One that vaguely seems inspired by the spirit of ‘from each according to ability and to each according to needs’ doesn’t hurt capitalism. To the contrary, good welfare provisions could strengthen it.