If you call yourself a socialist today, almost nobody in the US will vote for you [View all]

[struggle4progress]

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 races—Sawant’s in Seattle, Ty Moore’s in Minneapolis and Seamus Whelan’s in Boston—has 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