Walkaway ( Archived) (11)

I looked up who the "many" are and mainly its new people on the bottom rung. The most prominent are Sanders (who isnt a democrat) and the woman in New york Ocasio-Cortez.

But here's the rub, they are not talking socialist policies, like seizing the means of production and whatnot. The are espousing Social Democrat policies. And there is a big difference. True socialists want an end to the capitalist system, no-one in the Democratic Party wants that. And since the Republicans are calling them Socialists anyway they are saying "Ok call me a socialist! You are the ones that are taking peoples rights away!"

This CNN piece illustrates the difference.



"Republicans are going to call us socialists no matter what we do," she said at the Netroots Nation conference in New Orleans. "So we might as well give them the real thing."

Nixon's point was a strategic one, not a call to seize the means of production. But it's still worth asking: Are politicians like her or Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez offering Americans "the real thing"?

The simple answer is -- no, not really. Policies like "Medicare for all," public broadband, tuition-free college and jobs and housing guarantees are bold and, if implemented, would fundamentally transform American life. But even after the incredible political effort it would take to implement any one of those policy ambitions, they would represent modest advances by most socialists' eyes.

That blurring of the lines was apparent in Nixon's own statement about her take on democratic socialism, given to Politico in July.
"Some more establishment, corporate Democrats get very scared by this term but if being a democratic socialist means that you believe health care, housing, education and the things we need to thrive should be a basic right not a privilege then count me in," she said, describing what would historically be viewed as the cornerstones of a social democracy.

Though it might seem trifling to some, this is a distinction worth making, and understanding, as the rise of more ideologically socialist candidates invites new and pointed scrutiny.

In simplest terms, a democratic socialist is not the same thing as a social democrat. Sanders and co. tend to have more in common, for now at least, with the latter. That is, they are not advocating for an outright end to capitalism. Rather they're pushing for more robust limits on its practice. The push for universal guarantees -- to health care, jobs, labor rights, housing, access to broadband, and more -- are viewed as useful by almost all democratic socialists, but they do not represent the root and branch reform ultimately desired by groups like DSA.

Basically Social Democrats call for limits to be put on Capitalism to protect people and to guarantee basic rights and entitlements to everyone. Socialists think that Capitalism itself is the cause of everyone's problems and call for an end to the for profit motive and for the workers themselves to run companies, typically by a committee, and for the profits to be shared among the workers and the people in general. And THAT is not want the Democratic Party is.

Some might call themselves Socialists to spite FOX News and the Republicans calling them Socialists anyway, but they are not Socialists. Not even close.