Socialists argue that there is no budget crisis. What exists is a crisis of priorities for the system and the people who run it. There's always plenty of money to line war-profiteers' and corporations' pockets in the state of California and the country as a whole, but never any money for workers and students. We are expected to sacrifice while they profit.

Indeed, the word “socialism” has returned to the mainstream of American political debate because of this crisis of priorities.

But there are widespread misconceptions about what socialism is—and what it isn’t. Republicans fret that the U.S. is fast becoming a socialist country—with government spending on bank bailouts and Barack Obama’s proposed health care reform. But the genuine tradition of “socialism from below” means something more than state intervention in the economy.

Socialism is really about the struggle to oppose discrimination in all its forms and to put the needs of working people before corporate profits. Socialism, in fact, is the best way to understand and begin fighting against the budget cuts and the economic crisis in its entirety.