That’s right. Socialism is alive and well, right in the heart of Republican America!

North Dakota — whose state government leaders and congressional delegation are all right-wing Republicans with the exception of one Democrat U.S. Senator — is ironically the most socialist state in the U.S.  In the early twentieth century, agriculture-dominated North Dakota was swept by a populist agrarian movement borne of farmers sick of watching bankers and railroad bosses take advantage of their work and run amok with their savings. That agrarian movement produced two entities that are still flourishing over 100 years later – a state-owned grain mill, which has become the largest grain mill in the United States, and a public bank that ensured North Dakota would be unaffected by the recession of 2008 that rocked the other 49 states and the rest of the world.

Time for Americans to get over the media myth that the road to freedom and independence is paved in privatization and unfettered capitalism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read it for yourself and rejoice.

The results of North Dakota’s experiment are clear: socializing a state’s key industry and chartering a state-owned bank are great for a state’s economy and its citizens. By cutting out profit-driven middlemen and simply focusing on delivering a product to citizens who need it, states could become industrial titans of the commons, creating jobs and additional tax revenue to provide even better public services and infrastructure. If North Dakota can do it, so can we.