"The hard left"... you know what is so damn comical about this statement?

[merrily]

218. In the 1930s, FDR, with help, created the New Deal, in which not only mainstream Democrats, but

most of America believed at the time. Federal jobs when lack of work amounts to a national emergency, not only in road construction, but also to keep up national parks, do art work for federal, state and local govt, etc . Unions. Welfare for those who were unable to work or for whom no jobs existed. Social Security for those who had worked. Etc.

Even most Americans in the 1930s (and earlier) who attended Communist meetings were not prepared to plot for violent overthrow of the US government, so you would probably also be to the right of Russian Communists, who did just that. Then again, we are not under a Tsar, though we get closer and closer to a Tsar class, it sometimes seems. New Tsars, as it were.

One problem with advocating socialism is that we have successful models of socialist measures that work, but no example of a modern totally socialist society that works.

Another is that decades of bipartisan and nonpartisan propaganda, since the first Russian revolution, very early in the last century, propaganda in the US and in many other countries, discredited socialism in the minds of voters even more than bipartisan discrediting of the term liberal. You see what goes on, even in DU and the Democratic Party when the term "liberal" rears its head. And that's before we get to those who admit they are conservatives. Just imagine trying to convince someone who practically spits at the mention of "liberal" that going from what we have today to socialism is best. It doesn't matter if it would be best or not, just imagine the reaction. How are you going to fight all those decades? And now, the USG has formally authorized itself to propagandize its citizens. (I kind of shudder as I try to imagine what it wants to do in that regard that it had not already been doing, to the extent that it thought it needed a new law about the subject, but I'm pretty sure the new law is not about leftist propaganda.)

A third problem that I have is that I am not sure what, if anything, US socialists are doing toward their goals. Seems to me that the first thing they have to think about is getting the military and state and local law enforcement on their side and unionizing people beyond government employees, getting right to work laws off the books, etc. At least those to the left of Democrats have a national party, for better or worse, namely the Green Party. (And look how even that does on election day.)

A fourth problem is exactly what I've been discussing here. Is a people that sneers at the term liberal and can't bring itself to vote Green going to go from where it is now to socialism in one fell swoop? Getting people to accept liberal/quasi socialist measures is hard enough--and I don't mean only the politicians, either.

My fifth problem is the perennial problem of the left. Seems as though people who differ on one thing see no alternative for themselves but to start a new party and cease all support for existing parties. And that works very well for the PTB. I don't why we are not willing to walk and chew gum at the same time, namely vote one way, while working at building at least one additional party.