What is horseshoe theory? It’s a simple concept that tells us that if you go far enough left or right on the political spectrum you always end up at the same place. Authoritarianism and fascism. It comes from the assumption that both sides deploy nationalistic, populist, or authoritarian methods in order to achieve their goals. Two of the major comparisons are simple, Stalin’s Russia, and Nazi Germany. Stalin’s Soviet Union was considered one of the most brutal communist regimes using violent authoritarian methods in order to achieve their goals. Nazi Germany was also seen as one of the most evil and brutal regimes of all time. To argue against either of their methods meant persecution, incarceration, and often times execution. Both of these regimes participated in forms of ethnic cleansing against varying groups including but not limited to Jewish citizens, Chechens, Crimeans, the disabled, socialists, and anyone against the agendas of either regime. Not to mention propping up ideologies of superiority among their languages and ethnicities

With all that said, it does seem pretty damning for both extremes, solidifying anyone’s belief in horseshoe theory. However, I wouldn’t say Stalin’s Soviet Union was truly based on leftist ideology at all.

Socialism has been taking a lot of criticism for many decades as the name has been associated with regimes such as the aforementioned. In fact, the Nazis even referred to themselves as Socialists. That being said, there is a massive difference between socialism and National Socialism, or Natsoc. Natsoc is socialism but only for a specific group of people, meaning you need to qualify in order to earn any benefit. The Nazis were the best example, only those of German and Aryan decent could reap the benefits of the state, leaving any outside group as second class citizens or even worse, detained and murdered.

Real socialism doesn’t carry any of those prerequisites. In a real socialist country, everyone would benefit from the social programs. Housing, healthcare, food, water, access to jobs and many other programs would be at the benefit for all. Including those visiting. If you were to go to a country with universal healthcare, in most cases you can benefit from those programs. Breaking your arm in Japan, Canada, or China would be a lot cheaper on your wallet than breaking your arm here in the United States.

One must ask themselves an important question before making sweeping judgments on Socialism. Are the programs you’re suggesting universal? Or only limited to a specific group? The idea of true socialism is that every human being has the rights to the needs for survival which are housing, healthcare, water, and food. In the United States all of these things are considered privileges. You are not entitled to healthcare, it is earned through your employment or paying out of pocket. There have been many developments in the previous decades to introduce public options, however they are all still incredibly tied to profit-based insurance companies. You are not entitled to clean drinking water, you must pay for it as a utility, and so on.

Many socialists even advocate for modern social programs that help households with keeping the lights on. Expanding their ideas of socialism to education and work productivity. Utilizing free college and public transit.

So how does this relate back to horseshoe theory? It’s simple, go far enough left and the only group of people that become any form of victim is the billionaire class. They pay enough taxes to fund just about all these programs, as well as moderate tax raises for the middle class, all of which would be paid back with all these social programs. So yes, if you make 200k a year you might end up paying more in taxes, however you’d never have to worry about health insurance bills ever again. Not to mention your buses and trains would be clean and safe.

If you go too far to the right, however, you end up with violent nationalism. Finding new groups to call impure and only allow the “earned” to achieve any benefit. There is no inherent value in human life, only the strong survive and if we can learn anything from history, those regimes don’t last forever.