Editors at Issues and Insights highlight the return of socialism to American political debate.
No one who’s kept up with U.S. politics even minimally over the last four decades should be surprised that the Democratic Party has been the launching pad for a wave of socialism. The party has long been rooted in socialist principles. It was inevitable that what the Democrats have long covered up is now out in the open and its zealots adherents are threatening our republic.
Granted, the wave is not overwhelming and our country has survived previous flirtations with socialism. But the boldness from the outright socialists, who are hiding behind the label of “democratic socialists,” cannot be waved away, and the Democratic Party will be responsible for the damage that the Democratic Socialists of America will wreak if voters don’t turn away the slate of the most radical candidates we’ve seen in some time.
There is a reason that Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders first caucused with, then ran for president as a member of, the Democratic Party. Contempt for limited government and economic freedom (which naturally begets capitalism) has long been a main chapter in the Democrats’ handbook.
Redistributing wealth to increase political power is not a new idea for them. Neither is their disdain for secure borders nor animosity toward their country. Democrats have sympathized with leftist dictators, from Fidel Castro to Daniel Ortega to Hugo Chavez while crusading for the seizure of private property and the means of production. The seeds that sprouted into hatred for Israel and Jews abroad were planted, watered and fertilized by yesterday’s more mainstream Democrats. Both the new and old have agitated for chaos so that they we are more easily divided and then conquered — because who else could fix the country’s problems other than someone who is willing to knock heads and put boots on necks?
