Throughout modern American political history, socialism has almost always been considered taboo. But as Bob Dylan wrote, “The times, they are a changin’.”
Longtime socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders keeps high-profile company like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who once called capitalism “irredeemable.” And New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has talked of the ultimate goal when he said in the past that the end goal is “seizing the means of production…”
These days, the trio is joined by a growing collection of candidates hoping to turn democratic socialism from a sideshow into political power. The movement has momentum.
“Obviously socialism has been seen as a dirty word for many decades in this country, the product of McCarthyism and many other things,” says Micah Uetricht, the editor of Jacobin, which is one of the country’s most popular socialist magazines. “Increasingly, it doesn’t seem like such a bad word for so many people.”
The movement is propelled by the Democratic Socialists of America or DSA. Created in 1982, the organization had roughly 6,000 members. Then along came Bernie Sanders. His 2016 presidential campaign helped the ideology enter mainstream political conversation. “His campaign really showed people that there is an appetite in this country among tens of millions of people for democratic socialism, for an alternative kind of politics,” Uetricht says.
After Donald Trump won the White House — thousands of young, upset activists poured into the organization. Today, DSA claims more than 120,000 members — the largest socialist organization in American history.
We’re seeing the result from that at the ballot box. DSA’s current election tracker shows 49 wins this cycle, with 8 of its supported candidates winning federal primaries. While two other major progressives — Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota aren’t considered formal DSA victories, they ran on many of the same themes.
Bottom line: more socialists could soon be walking the halls of Congress.
“What is happening in the Democratic Party is that a group of people, democratic socialists, see the party leadership not advancing an agenda that is particularly compelling for much of the country,” Uetricht tells CBN News. “The Democratic Party brand is really in the toilet right now and throughout much of the United States.”
A closer look under the DSA hood, so to speak, is where this is becoming a problem for the Democratic Party. DSA’s wish list for America includes: abolishing the police and prison systems, ending ICE, legalizing migration, public ownership of America’s largest corporations and essential industries. Add to that, getting rid of the Senate and replacing the Presidency and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary branch chosen by Congress.
“Most of it I agree with, and there are parts of it that I don’t,” Uetricht says. “I don’t think, for example, that abolishing prisons is necessarily something that we’re going to ever accomplish, but I do think that there is a real crisis in this country around the carceral system.”
That eyebrow-raising agenda has long-time progressives concerned about where their party could be headed. Democrat veterans including Rahm Emanuel and James Carville — along with liberal comedian Bill Maher — have all raised concerns about a party moving too far left.
Then there’s longtime progressive Van Jones — a supporter of Medicare for All and the Green New Deal — who sees DSA trying to redefine what progressive means. “Ideas that are literally insane, nutty, moronic, dangerous, gibbeted are not progressive,” he said in a recent video. “They are regressive, and they should not be in our party.”
The problem for Democrats is this movement is catching on. In 2010, 50 percent viewed socialism favorably. By 2018, it reached 57 percent. Now it stands at 66. Add to this, 75 percent of Democrats say they would be open to voting for a democratic socialist for president compared to 42 percent of all registered voters.
Moderate Democrat Jon Cowan, president of the centrist Third Way organization, sees trouble ahead.
“We think the DSA is toxic crazy, has horrible ideas for America, and will ultimately make it impossible for Democrats to win majorities and get the White House back,” Cowan tells CBN News. “If we cede the party to the far left, they’ll take it over, they’ll destroy it, and Democrats will hold only the bluest seats in the deepest blue places and be locked out of the White House for a generation.”
At this point, socialist wins have typically come in deep blue areas not statewide. So the resonating message may be more selective at this point. “I think that it’s going to depend on where you are in the country, what kind of appeal, and what kind of pitch that you’re making, to voters, certainly,” Uetricht says. “But so far, it seems like the democratic socialist pitch to Democratic voters and other kinds of voters all around the country is actually a quite compelling one.”
Part of the compelling reason isn’t all economic-based. It taps into the same reason why the far-right crowd doesn’t trust establishment Republicans.
“I think that what you see happening on the right with some figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene, like Tucker Carlson, even like Trump himself, is a reflection of people’s just absolutely, absolutely had it with the status quo of both major parties in this country,” says Uetricht. “And they’re looking for something very different from what they have experienced in politics up to this time.”
While there’s no doubt that’s a reality in today’s politics, Jon Cowan with Third Way sees something ahead even scarier for Democrats.
“Right now, I feel like Thomas Paine standing on a soapbox, screaming for people to pay attention to what’s happening. Because I’ll tell you, the British are coming to destroy the Democratic Party. In this instance, the British are the DSA and their fellow travelers, and they have one objective: destroy and take over the Democratic Party. They don’t care what the consequences of that are.”
The consequences so far is an organized, energetic socialist movement scoring more victories at the polls than at any point in modern American politics.
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