By Cindy Offutt
A shorter version of this article appeared in the “Progressive Views” column, Boerne Star, October 18, 2026
As recently cited by economist Jared Bernstein in his October 1 Substack, a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) poll about which issues Americans would like Congress to pass laws indicates the top issues with voters across the board mainly concern the cost of living for average American families. There’s no surprise in this.
What’s thought-provoking, however, is that most if not all of the specific policies about which the WSJ asked that would help with the cost of living – most of those policies are Democratic policies – NOT socialist or communist strategies, despite what Republicans in these parts incessantly try to assert in this newspaper, and most were supported by significant majorities of voters, to include Republicans and Independents.
Things like Medicare for All – which MAGA Republicans habitually decry as “socialist” – is supported by 59% of bipartisan voters. That’s a fairly solid majority.
But my guess is this: Since Medicare by All is supported by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others – all with a “D” after their names – Republican leadership around here will inevitably try to pooh-pooh the poll’s findings by inaccurately labeling universal access to Medicare as “socialist.” They would do so, of course, because labeling anything Democrats support as “socialist” is raw meat for a MAGA/Republican Party that has very little grasp of the difference between true socialism and a society with a functioning social safety net.
Their primary argument to support their label of “socialist” is that expanding Medicare to people younger than 65 would be to increase government control in our (illustrious – NOT!) medical system. The cry of “Socialist,” or even “Communist” is their knee-jerk retort to almost every Democratic policy that would extend this extremely popular program to more Americans. It’s the same argument Republicans made back in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Act, and it’s always the tired old argument Republicans make whenever a new law might strengthen social safety net programs to benefit the “least among us” (Matthew 25:40)
In fact, branding something “socialist” is about the only “argument” they can make these days. That’s because most of their own supporters – as the WSJ poll found – actually like the idea of access to Medicare. As everyone with an over-65 family member or friend knows, once people reach the magic age of 65 and qualify for Medicare, it is as if a great weight has been lifted from their shoulders because they can finally access the medical care many of them had needed for years but couldn’t afford.
In reality, Medicare and Medicare for All is not true socialism (and it’s certainly not communism!) because the government does not and would not own the “means of production.” In the case of Medicare and Medicare for All, “means of production” denotes owning the hospitals and clinics, directly employing doctors and other medical personnel, owning pharmaceutical companies, and the like.
But that is not the way Medicare works and it’s not the way Medicare for All would work. There is and would be no government ownership. Just like with Medicare, in the case of Medicare for All, the government would act as the single-payer administrator within the healthcare system – which is what regular Medicare does now for the over-65 set. There is a huge difference between directly owning the country’s medical infrastructure (and directly employing its medical staff) and merely administering payment with public funds.
In this reality-based light, Republican name-calling is nothing more than an antiquated, inept scare-tactic – one which more and more average American voters are, fortunately and at long last, coming to recognize as crass manipulation by a bunch of rightwing ideologues…
… Which explains why the WSJ polling showing that wide majorities support such things as Medicare for All, even if Republican and MAGA principals continue to refer to such programs as “socialist.”
… And what’s more, that same WSJ showed that not all MAGA ideas attempting to deal with current affordability issues are supported by a majority of American voters. For example, Trump’s scheme to send Americans $5,000 checks if Republicans maintain control of Congress in November’s midterms secured only 23% support in the WSJ poll.
This strongly suggests that a majority of voters – even Republican and MAGA voters – are seeing through Trump’s ham-fisted effort to buy votes. It’s clear American voters – even MAGA voters – are more shrewd than to capitulate to such obvious bribery.
Cindy Offutt is a lifelong Democrat. She supports Democratic Party policies to make all Americans prosperous again. She is neither a socialist nor a communist, and like most Democrats, never has been.
