The Republican Party is reviving the rhetoric of the McCarthyism era to accuse Democrats of being communists. This would be laughable except that many people will swallow the bait. In fact, the party becoming more communist-like is the Republican Party.

Communism is defined as a classless, stateless society where private property is abolished. Instead of the government owning enterprises, the “means of production” (factories, farms and resources) are collectively owned by the public, with no central governing authority. In practice, however, when nations attempted to implement communism, they relied on a strong central state or government to control the economy, manage resources and oversee enterprises on behalf of the people.

The Trump administration, more than any previous one, has taken an equity stake in private companies. So far, the count is north of $12 billion. The footprint will likely expand significantly with Trump’s penchant to control things for his personal gain. For example, AI giants like OpenAI have recently approached the administration with proposals to cede a 5% equity stake to a proposed U.S. sovereign wealth fund. Considering Trump has declared bankruptcy at least six times, his calling the shots on these investments is a wasteful use of taxpayer dollars.

Tracy Floyd
Cape Elizabeth