By: Jasmine Morrow Staff Writer
Dean Braa, a professor at Western Oregon University and a socialist, ran for United States Senate in the ‘90s. On Mar. 2, Professor Braa held a Social Science Symposium to discuss socialism and how it can be helpful to the United States.
Professor Braa almost got one percent of district votes, but he fell short and didn’t win. He went as far as appearing on television and the radio. With the help of his colleague Ed Dover, they both discussed why people should be socialists and how it is helpful to the community.
Socialism is the belief in social rights and democratic order, as well as political rights.
Socialists want to empower the public and workers in the workplace so that entrepreneurs would benefit more. There are 2,000 companies that are owned by the workers and Socialists want more worker owned companies. The Western Europeans vote regularly for a socialist party and they have the highest standard of living.
With socialism, there would be a lot more worker ownership and public ownership to utilities. There also would be a better family wage, more job security, and not to mention free health care and education. Western Europe and Canada both have free education and free health care, and the socialist party wants the U.S. to be like that as well.
People want a new alternative party that will be more progressive and socialism could be just that. It wasn’t always easy for minor political parties to be on the ballots with the top political parties: Democrats and Republicans.
There was a petition that a large number of people had to sign so that socialists would be able to be on the ballots. When they finally got on the ballot, it was incredibly hard for them to stay on them. They needed one percent of the district and it was hard for them to get the resources they needed because they didn’t have as much money as Democrats and Republicans.
Professor Braa stated very clearly, “Working people deserve a break.” He also said that people deserve public rights and equality. The first universities were privately owned, and when public universities opened, it was supposed to be for everyone. Dean Braa and Ed Dover shared their views about socialism in a very professional way.
Contact the author at jmorrow16@mail.wou.edu
