Call Me A Socialist All You Want

[ItsjustMe]

[Duncanpup]

1. I feel the same

[denbot]

2. K&R

That last tattoo..

[JohnSJ]

3. I belong to the Democratic party, not the socialist party or the fascist republican party

The Democratic party gave us Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the voting rights act, and fights for Civil Rights, women's rights, worker's rights, LGBT rights, environmental rights, etc. etc. etc.

[question everything]

5. Well said. Thank you

[Hortensis]

19. That's it. We're the can-do and will-do people, and we already had our revolution. nt

[Diamond_Dog]

4. Those were great memes!

[underpants]

6. Ooh the tattoo took me a bit.

[FakeNoose]

7. THIS ONE is what America needs to learn - fast!

[alittlelark]

8. The tattoo is Stellar !!!

[AllaN01Bear]

9. call me Socialist . communist pinko pig. slacker ,queer. i wear those lables w

[patphil]

10. Every government that works for the good of its people has elements of socialism within it.

It's not a problem, it's a solution to problems.

[speak easy]

11. The label 'Socialist' is poison.

The Democratic Party has never been socialist.

[Tommymac]

12. Only because of 90 years of repetition by Conservatives & Rethuglicans.

The Democratic Party espouses and promotes socialistic policies --- and I am grateful and PROUD we do.

[H2O Man]

14. Respectfully disagree.

Past examples were FDR and LBJ, in their most positive accomplishments -- which the opposition called "socialism." More, a growing segment of the current Democratic Party -- myself included -- identify as Democratic Socialists. We are generally the ones that go door-to-door, registering voters, and encouraging people to get out and vote.

I'm an old man, and I remember very well when people tended to view the label "socialist" as poison. But that is a generational thing. Young people are far more likely to grasp the fact that we have a mixed economy, and that everything from Social Security, libraries, public roads, and indeed the Walter Reed hospital are socialist programs. Only a small amount of concrete thinkers mistake these programs as a threat.

[Celerity]

21. But in reality every single elected Democrat at federal level who falsely claims Dem Soc is

simply a big standard social democratic. None of them want the state to expropriate the means of production, which a core foundational tenet of actual socialism. srnie himself has stated that over and iver for ages.

It also drives me bonkers to hear them (or anyone) call us here in the Nordic 'socialist nations'. We are NOT socialists, in fact our capitalist sectors are more vibrant at a multiple levels than the US's is. Come here, walk up to 1000 Swedes, Danes, Norse, and Finns ans tell them they live in a socialist country. 95% plus will laugh in your face (or on the inside at least, as that would be rude and violate social norms, lol).

We just highly regulate the capitalist sector (I argue that is vibrant BECAUSE of that, not DESPITE it), which works synergistically with our expansive social safety net/welfare states to produce some of the highest quality of life and most equal wealth distributions on the planet. Wealthy equality (NOT total per capita wealth) is the number one overarching, interlocked stat at all societal levels in terms of determining the overerall performance/quality/sucess of a nation state. The US is now incredibly low, 139th in the world, and for comparison, 138th is Iran, so slight more equal.

I have done multiple, long, detailed, fully documented posts on the whole 'Dem Soc as a false self-labelling and self-inflicted wound' since I joined DU.

[betsuni]

20. Correct. There's a myth that FDR/LBJ were democratic socialists.

That the true roots of the Democratic Party are "democratic socialism" and not capitalism. Used by certain people (who call Democrats "corporate Democrats": Democrats are corrupt, have the same economic policies as Republicans ("neoliberals" ) to justify their "take over" and attempted "transformation" of the party back to socialism.

The word "progressive" has a new meaning: anti-establishment, the establishment being the Democratic Party. They'll call themselves "FDR Democrats" without knowing that their heroes -- the two Roosevelts and LBJ -- were as establishment and capitalist as it gets. It's nutty.

The label socialist is poison, Americans don't like it.

[H2O Man]

13. Recommended.

I really like the entire message, but particularly the last picture. It's interesting -- in other areas on the internet, I frequently communicate with a number of now retired boxing champions and former top contenders. Most are men, but also the greatest woman boxer ever. Almost without exception, they get it ..... they feel the pain and outrage.

[SergeStorms]

15. Love that man's tattoo.

It had to hurt like hell. I guess if you're a boxer you've overcome some pain thresholds though.

[brooklynite]

16. I'm not going to call you a socialist because helping people in need isn't socialism...

[David__77]

17. The future is not capitalist.

...

[a kennedy]

18. Damn right.......

[Wounded Bear]

22. K&R...nt

[BobTheSubgenius]

23. Speaking of taxing the uber-rich....

I saw an interview recently (damned if I can remember who said this - Robert Reich, I BELIEVE) wherein an interveiwee said that American billionaires could pay for President Joe's entire $2 trillion+ stimulus and maybe-not-have-quite-so-many-people-starve proposal. And that, as a class, they would have the same wealth as they had before the pandemic started.

In short, the plutocrats have not had a bad year.