You Don't Want Socialism. You Want a Say.

 

A lot of young people today say they want socialism. I don't think most of them want what that word has historically meant. I think they want something simpler: a say. A stake. Some control over their own economic lives instead of feeling like the whole game is rigged for people who already won it.

That hunger is legitimate. I'm not going to mock it. The question is what actually answers it.

Here's the problem with socialism as an answer: everywhere it's been tried as a system of government, power didn't spread out — it concentrated. Different uniforms, same result. The people at the top changed. The people at the bottom didn't get the say they were promised.

But here's what nobody talks about: we already have a model that gives people exactly what they're asking for. It's been here all along. It's called the cooperative — the co-op.

And it's not some fringe experiment. There are more than 30,000 co-ops operating in America right now, doing about $660 billion a year in business, employing over two million people. You probably already use them.

Your credit union? That's a co-op — 146 million Americans bank at one. The electricity across much of rural America? Delivered by co-ops born in the 1930s, when the big power companies wouldn't run lines to farms. Land O'Lakes, Ocean Spray — farmer co-ops. REI, with 25 million members, is the largest consumer co-op in the country. Ace Hardware is owned by its retailers. State Farm is a mutual — owned by its policyholders.

The model is simple: instead of outside investors owning the business, the customers or the workers own it. One member, one vote. The business still competes in the market. It still has to earn its keep. But it answers to the community, not to Wall Street.

And food co-ops — the kind people picture when they hear the word — are growing, not dying. Around 170 co-ops running 240 stores, nearly $3 billion in sales, with more than a hundred new ones in development. The ones that close are usually small and underfunded, squeezed by the big chains — which tells you the model works but needs real backing, not just good intentions.

So here's my proposal, and I'm serious about it: let's expand this thing.

Where the big grocery chains won't go — and there are plenty of those neighborhoods — help communities start co-op groceries. Not with a government takeover. With incentives, technical assistance, startup support. The template exists. We just need to make it easier to copy.

And why stop at groceries? Co-ops could work in childcare, home repair, broadband, all kinds of local services. Anywhere people feel the market isn't serving them, give them the tools to serve themselves — together.

I'm not saying replace the corporate chains. Let them compete. If people will pay a little more to shop somewhere locally owned and community-controlled, the market will prove it. If they won't, that tells us something too. Nobody's forced. The people decide with their wallets.

I'm a capitalist. I believe markets work. But I also believe markets work best when ownership isn't concentrated in a few hands — and American history backs me up. Every time working people have gained ground in this country, it's been a good thing.

Young people aren't wrong to want more control over their economic lives. They're just being pointed at the wrong answer. The answer isn't handing power to the state. It's putting ownership in the hands of the people — one co-op at a time.