Why is the title “Democratic Socialists” so puzzling? Presumably the word democratic is meant to reassure voters that these socialists are different from others in that they support the use of elections to determine who leads the country. Since socialism is antithetical to human nature, a socialist of any sort is unlikely to be picked to lead the USA.
If though, by some chance, a “Democratic Socialist” were to win the presidency and start raising taxes, confiscating personal property, restricting speech and assembly, nationalizing essential businesses, etc., he or she would then be faced with the challenge of getting reelected. Uh oh.
Other socialists, when faced with this challenge, have found their support for free open elections slipping. If Democratic Socialists wanted to stay in power they would probably show the same reverence for free elections as Hugo Chavez and Nicholas Maduro did in Venezuela, or the same respect for free elections as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Xi Jinping have in their socialist countries.
Even a democratic socialist could probably engineer a phony election. Let’s not get sucked into believing that there’s anything democratic about socialism.
Dwight Boud
TheMiddleofSomewhere 