Opinion: Joe Scarborough’s Ignorant Anti-Socialism Exposes Dangers of Conservative Ideology

Anyone who has watched Morning Joe the past week has been repeatedly regaled by self-proclaimed blimpish big and erstwhile Republican congressman Joe Scarborough blast Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for being a “big authorities socialist.”

Why does Scarborough telephone DeSantis by this astir politically charged and provocative name?

Well, it was truly a infinitesimal of governmental opportunism for Scarborough to bash socialism, retired of a implicit ignorance of what socialism really is.

Scarborough’s anti-socialist rants, though, successful summation to ignorantly characterizing socialism, were oddly timed for this pandemic infinitesimal successful a mode that really exposed and clarified the dangers and backwardness of blimpish ideology, starkly highlighting the small-government and states-rights elements that alteration racism, sexism, and different repressive authoritarian politics.

What Scarborough described arsenic “socialism” was DeSantis’s statewide anti-mask mandate, prohibiting businesses, schools, organizations—anyone and immoderate entity—from requiring radical deterioration masks connected their premises to forestall the dispersed of the COVID-19 virus. Scarborough went to municipality connected DeSantis, confusing top-down authorities stupidity with socialism.  He ranted:

“Sounds similar a socialist to me. When you’re a politician of a state, and you’re telling businesses, tiny businesses that they can’t tally their businesses the mode they privation to tally their businesses, to support their stores safe, the mode they deliberation they tin support their stores safe, and besides erstwhile you’re telling section schoolhouse boards, banning them from taking information measures successful their ain areas.

Florida is similar 5 antithetic states. So spell archer idiosyncratic successful Broward county, a section schoolhouse committee successful Broward county, that they indispensable bash the aforesaid happening that happens successful Walton county, 10 hours, 12 hours away, it’s conscionable ridiculous large government, 1 size fits each socialism. It doesn’t marque immoderate sense.”

Let’s archetypal conscionable commencement with the aesculapian stupidity and small-mindedness of Scarborough’s diatribe from a argumentation perspective.

To authorities the obvious, we are dealing with a highly contagious and transmissible virus. The microorganism does not cognize section bounds, and it is undeniable that 1 of the biggest obstacles to managing the microorganism successful the United States has been the refusal of idiosyncratic states—and individuals—to code the world of the pandemic and to instrumentality measures to enforce, oregon adjacent encourage, behaviors and policies (testing, vaccination, masking, distancing) that would support america collectively from the microorganism and curb, if not prevent, its spread.

Indeed, a immense crushed the federation has not contained the pandemic is precisely due to the fact that we person not had a nationally-coordinated effort and azygous policies crossed states, specified that governors successful states similar Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, and Texas person licence to endanger the remainder of us.

Scarborough’s logic is precisely that which besides enables the anti-vaccination question and, frankly, movements to undermine democracy, morganatic racism and sexism, and disenfranchise voters.

Indeed, Scarborough’s logic not lone undermines the ground for a nationally-coordinated attack to managing the pandemic, but besides for preserving democracy, voting rights, and civilian rights.

Scarborough launches into this statement for the rights of section authorities astatine the precise infinitesimal erstwhile desperately-needed authorities is tenuously successful the works successful Congress that would make national instrumentality to support the franchise of voters crossed the federation from Republican authorities legislatures who are vociferously attempting not lone to restrict entree to voting but besides to let the authorities legislatures themselves to find the result of elections careless of what voters say.

Would specified national enactment that supports and defends ideology represent “big authorities socialism” for Scarborough?

Were the civilian rights and voting rights authorities of the 1960s, needfully passed and enforced connected national level due to the fact that immoderate states wanted to prolong radical injustice and segregation, besides “big authorities socialism”?

The thrust of blimpish ideology to enactment authorities rights has historically been an effort to alteration states to support racist and sexist cultures and societies connected the section levels.

As I wrote past week for PoliticusUsa, our founders imagined ideology arsenic requiring that citizens enactment not retired of constrictive self-interest but retired of a consciousness of the nationalist good.  They didn’t ideate antiauthoritarian state arsenic 1 that gave licence to each tiny business, school, community, oregon adjacent authorities to bash arsenic it pleases careless of its interaction connected others successful the nation.

Yet that’s what Scarborough’s conservatism calls for.

And his rendering of socialism, a governmental system successful which each stock successful the corporate fruits of societal labour and admit their interdependence, is conscionable absurd.

There’s not capable abstraction present for a afloat discussion, but I volition notation readers to Albert Einstein’s 1949 essay connected socialism which offers a cardinal penetration to the problems we look today. He could person written these words today, successful fact:

I person present reached the constituent wherever I whitethorn bespeak concisely what to maine constitutes the essence of the situation of our time. It concerns the narration of the idiosyncratic to society. The idiosyncratic has go much conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But helium does not acquisition this dependence arsenic a affirmative asset, arsenic an integrated tie, arsenic a protective force, but alternatively arsenic a menace to his earthy rights, oregon adjacent to his economical existence. Moreover, his presumption successful nine is specified that the egotistical drives of his make-up are perpetually being accentuated, portion his societal drives, which are by quality weaker, progressively deteriorate. All quality beings, immoderate their presumption successful society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their ain egotism, they consciousness insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man tin find meaning successful life, abbreviated and perilous arsenic it is, lone done devoting himself to society.

We person seen a run-away individualism successful the federation negating immoderate consciousness oregon conception of the nationalist good, precisely due to the fact that we person not been recognizing our dependence connected 1 another, our interdependence with 1 another. The failed and chaotic effect to the pandemic, peculiarly successful reddish states, highlights this breakdown.

Einstein’s socialist position demands we admit the world of our interdependence. Scarborough’s conservatism, truthful ignorant of the socialism Einstein describes, denies it and poses dangers to a steadfast antiauthoritarian society.