I have been a Democrat my entire life...

[demwing]

137. I understand your question, and have already answered

I know that to some here at DU, thoughts of political cooperation with the Church will be ridiculed and dismissed. I also know that you are correct, and (accurately or not) socialism evokes images of Mao and Stalin.

My point is that if the banner of socialism is carried into America by the Church, it will "owe nothing to communist memes" and would be free of "icky red Soviet collectivism." It will be a movement based on charity to the poor - and begin with food banks and free medical clinics - areas where the Church already has a history of engagement. What is the prefix most commonly used with the word "communist?" I believe it would be "godless," so let's remove that argument.

Again, I know this is idea embracing help from the Church runs counter to the logic of many DUers. But DU is not representative of the majority of Americans. We are not a theocracy (not a religious country), but we are a country of religious people. Ease socialism in through the Churches, and those religious Americans will follow along.

Now to balance that Church influence, and keep our form of Government from turning theocratic, the other half of this "socialist banner" should be carried by a new Labor effort. Socialism cannot rise up from the ranks of the poor (not without a measure of violence), because it will be looked at as a movement of lazy "takers" trying to get a free ride. It won't rain down from the 1% (that's trickle down theory, and we all know how that works), so it must come from the middle and spread outward. A new labor class - say a United Women's Party - would be ideal. Let the Old Boys network pooh pooh an organized Women's movement. You know they will, and this will only feed the argument that the Old Boys network is out of touch with American values.

It would be better to educate people, and grow change slowly, but I think we are hitting an economic point of no return. If we don't create sudden, non-violent change, we risk losing our democracy, our environment, and out future. We cooperated with the Churches during the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s. We can do so again.