HERE WE GO:
Millennial Democrats EMBRACE Socialism
ByBen Shapiro
@benshapiro
July 2, 2018
A few months ago, Hillary Clinton was asked about whether
her self-identification as a capitalist had hurt her among members of her own
core constituency. She said it had. She was right. And the Democratic Party is
now moving openly in the direction of embracing socialism.
All of this follows what are, in any serious sense,
relatively minor wins for self-proclaimed Democratic Socialists within the
party. The momentum began with Bernie Sanders’ stunning 2016 presidential run,
which galvanized young people in a way Hillary’s campaign never did. Sanders’
radicalism permeated the party and radicalized ambitious politicians like Senator
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) and
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). But Warren and Booker and Harris and Gillibrand
still don’t openly embrace socialism as a philosophy.
Not so with a few fringe members of the party getting
outsized attention for winning primaries. These would be Summer Lee, 30, and
Sara Innamorato, 32, and Elizabeth Fiedler, 37, all three of whom won
nominations for the Pennsylvania State Legislature in the Democratic Party. And
the latest and greatest of these emissaries of Marx is, of course, the media’s
beloved Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, who just knocked off Joe Crowley in a
primary vote in New York.
Now, Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times
points out that millennials are embracing socialism in large numbers:
Talk of popular control of the means of production is
anathema to many older Democrats, even very liberal ones. It plays a lot better
with the young; one recent survey shows that 61 percent of Democrats between 18
and 34 view socialism positively… Indeed, while there’s a lot of talk about an
ideological civil war among Democrats, on the ground, boundaries seem more
fluid. In Pennsylvania recently, I met with moderate suburban resistance
activists who’d volunteered for Innamorato, thrilled to support a young woman
who could help revitalize the Democratic Party.
And herein lies the issue for Democrats: while the agenda
of the DSA is utterly unworkable and insane — nationalized healthcare,
guaranteed housing, guaranteed government jobs — the Democratic Party is happy
to embrace the crowd, even if it means embracing unworkable policies. Socialism
allows Democrats to fit President Trump’s victory into an ideological
framework: he’s the apotheosis of evil capitalism run amok, finally at the head
of American government. As Goldberg writes:
The young members
of the D.S.A., meanwhile, are hopeful because their analysis helps them make sense
of the Trump catastrophe. They often seem less panicked about what is happening
in America right now than liberals are, because they believe they know why our
society is coming undone, and how it can be rebuilt. … After Ocasio-Cortez’s
win, Pelosi denied Republican claims that socialism is ascendant
in the Democratic Party. It’s hard to blame her for being defensive,
since for generations “socialist” was considered a slur, and it’s one that’s
hurled at Democrats indiscriminately. But I think she’s wrong. There are more
candidates like Ocasio-Cortez out there, and the Democrats should welcome them.
It needs their youth and zeal and willingness to do the work of rebuilding the
party as a neighborhood institution. And they’re coming, whether the party’s
leadership likes it or not.
Now, socialism has failed every time it has been tried.
European-style socialism isn’t actually socialism in
the true sense — it doesn’t nationalize the means of production, or
“democratize” them. But socialism provides a sense of meaning to people who
have none. Perhaps the most interesting part of Goldberg’s piece is her
insistence that socialists are working to recreate social fabric:
I was struck by
the work they put into building community. On some days that public schools are
closed, the D.S.A.’s socialist-feminist committee puts on all-day events with
child care and free lunches. Like several other chapters, the Pittsburgh D.S.A.
holds clinics where members change people’s burned-out car brake lights for
free, helping them avoid unnecessary police run-ins while making inroads into
the community. A local mechanic named Metal Mary helped train them.
But this all comes to an end the moment socialists
actually hold power. Then they abandon local charitable solutions, and
immediately turn to government. Socialism isn’t voluntary. It’s inherently
coerced.
The Democratic move toward socialism is easy to mock, but
the reality is that Americans tend to swing from party to party electorally.
There will come some point when Democrats are again ascendant. If they’re the
party of Bernie Sanders when that happens, get ready for American liberties to
be thrown under the bus in favor of hackneyed nostrums about the power of the
people, amidst increasing suffering of individuals.
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