General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf you call yourself a socialist today, almost nobody in the US will vote for you
We can, of course, argue back and forth forever about whether this is fair or whether the American electorate is screaming bonkers mad to take this view
But regardless of such arguments, it's simply a fact
This hasn't always been the case:
At its peak a century ago, the Socialist Party of America polled at 6 percent nationally, had two representatives in Congress and boasted hundreds of state and local legislators. But for more than a generation, socialism has been virtually invisible on the American scene. Its return in several high-profile local city council racesSawants in Seattle, Ty Moores in Minneapolis and Seamus Whelans in Bostonhas been surprising
Sawant won election in 2013; Moore and Whelan lost
In the last 50 years, two towns have elected socialist mayors: in the mid-70s, University Heights IA (pop 1050) elected David Belgum; and since 1980, Burlington VT has elected Bernie Sanders, Peter Clavell, and Bob Kiss
Response to struggle4progress (Original post)
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struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)democrank
(11,092 posts)Bernie`s message.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)appalachiablue
(41,127 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)I do not think going to the far left is going to get someone elected either.
darkangel218
(13,985 posts)Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
Where is the sarcasm tag?
struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)People usually don't sprint miraculously into statewide or federal office: they almost always come from city councils, county commissions, and state house or senate seats, before becoming treasurer, or secretary of state, or governor, or member of congress, or President
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)He might just end up borking her chances in the general since she is having to make declarative statements in the primary already.
She would be best to ignore him because the flip flops if she wins the nomination after trying to out liberal-Bernie are going to be of epic proportions.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)And it isn't by running as a shitty republican
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)And fascists of the day all around the world hated him for it, especially the ones who were American.
struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)former9thward
(31,981 posts)No it was not Marx. It was the Iron Chancellor, Otto Bismarck, of Germany who was socialism's greatest enemy in the late 1800s. No, social security is not socialism. Many economic systems have a form of it.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)I thought it was the French in the 1789 .
appalachiablue
(41,127 posts)Social Security and the first Welfare State in the late 1800s to provide a safety net for working people who might otherwise be drawn to full out socialism-communism. Smart leader and politician Bismarck was. And that was 130 years ago.
As part of the post WWII Allies Marshall Plan recovery, it was determined that Germany should have good wage paying jobs and UNIONS. You can understand why; impoverished, malcontented Germans (as in post WWI) have not proved to be a good thing historically.
djean111
(14,255 posts)We are going to see what happens.
I hope the other candidates are also beneficiaries of all of this worrying!
Zorra
(27,670 posts)going to hell in a handbasket faster than a Third Way politician in a bombed out Baghdad ghetto
Fortunately, this is about to change, and after Bernie is elected, there will be no more for profit insurance companies trying to kill us off, and rainbows and butterflies will appear on the streets of Ferguson and Baltimore where cops once killed African Americans with impunity.
The alternative? Same old same old...things continue to get worse by the day.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Especially when your thesis is 'today', and then you try to back it up by talking about 'the last 50 years'.
struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)state legislature? state executive offices? state congressional delegation?
How many hours have you devoted in recent years to knocking doors, or making phone calls, to get your favorite socialist candidates into office?
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)You don't support your thesis in any way, sorry. Simply saying there aren't a lot of socialists in office doesn't automatically mean it's because 'no one will vote for them'. Most of the time, it means nobody ran as a socialist. Hell, I don't have a Democrat in office as my House of Reps guy. You know why? Because no Dem actually ran for my district.
former9thward
(31,981 posts)And I am being serious. I have run for Congress. Heavily R district and no support from the Dems but it was fun and I got a lot of free media.
struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)If no D ran against your R in the House, it's because the race was widely regarded as unwinnable
Nobody runs as a socialist, because nobody expects to win as a socialist
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)People believe a lot of things that turn out to be wrong.
Republicans were stunned, because after they made sure everybody knew Barack Obama was actually a 'socialist', they couldn't believe people would still vote for him. Shocker, people still did.
cali
(114,904 posts)Hear from people like bernie
frylock
(34,825 posts)and you find out that practically everyone is a socialist.
stone space
(6,498 posts)We tried it here in Ames around the same time.
The newspapers called us "self-avowed socialists". (Which made me wonder at the time why nobody ever talks about self-avowed republicans).
We got close to 40%, but lost.
Not bad for a bunch of mostly student socialists pushing a strong gay rights agenda, though.
Of course, that was back before the financial crisis, so capitalism had a good name back then in many circles, and both socialism and gay rights were somewhat frowned upon by some here in Ames at the time.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)and look who is still at it.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)But that situation is currently a fact
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)that most voters probably don't even know what socialism means and just go by what they hear.
blm
(113,043 posts)if/when the attacks are made.
TBF
(32,047 posts)Decades old red-baiting ... good lord.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)the authoritarianism of Stalin and Mao, right-wing misinformation and outright propaganda, it's no wonder socialism wasn't able to build on its early success in America last century (pre-WWI).
It's long over due for the left in this country to reclaim democratic socialism and start making a case for it again.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)But more to the point, you are seriously afraid and upset about his candidacy. Odd if he has no chance.