Me, Dad and Socialism

It was 1956.   The Presidential election was coming up with Dwight Eisenhower the Republican candidate and Adlai Stevenson the Democratic candidate.   Our civic minded eighth grade teacher decided to teach us a little about the issues by having our own Presidential Debate, with a number of students arguing each side.   I was chosen to represent Eisenhower.  I was clueless.   I don’t ever remember politics being discussed in our home, although from occasional comments I gathered that my Mom leaned Democratic and my Dad leaned Republican.  Perhaps that was why there were no discussions.  Hoping to find a winning argument for my side, I asked my Dad for an issue that I could use against Stevenson.   Now, I don’t remember his exact words but I’ll paraphrase what he said.   You should bring up Social Security, Bud.   Social Security is just plain socialism and that’s the first step toward communism.   Now, I didn’t know a thing about socialism but thinking my Dad had given me the silver bullet for our debate, I used it as my main point.   Nobody cared.  Except for the teacher who looked at me as if I’d suddenly grown horns.