By Walt Zlotow
I chuckle when I hear derogatory charges hurled at political leaders branded “democratic socialists.”
The label became popular with the rise of Bernie Sanders as the democratic socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981, US House in 1990, US Senate in 2006, and especially with his Democratic Party presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020. Elected Senator as a Democrat, Sanders shed that label for “Independent” tho of course he caucuses with the Democratic Party to promote his democratic socialist agenda – that establishment Democrats do not fully embrace.
When asked how a democratic socialist can effectively govern a big city such as Burlington, Vermont, Sanders brushed aside the moniker, stating that effectiveness was simply delivering critical social services to his constituents. And he did.
Think about that. We’re all socialists in that we reside in a society we want to serve our needs. There are a few who live outside society such as Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, but even Ted had to use the socialist postal service to deliver his deadly messages.
I fervently supported Sanders in ’16 and ’20 because he epitomized the values and services society should provide all its citizens from the richest to the poorest. That implies fair, progressive taxation and laser focus on uplifting the commons instead of endless warfare worldwide costing trillions.
Sanders’ message was marginalised by elites in his own party, spooked by the democratic socialist label. They were too tied in with endless war and minimal rather than robust uplifting of the marginalised and poor.
Today, Sanders has been replaced as the whipping boy of democratic socialism by newly elected democratic socialist New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani. His critics are hysterically calling his democratic socialism agenda communism. Even major Democratic leaders were terrified by his winning the mayoral nomination, refusing to endorse him against Primary loser and deeply flawed independent candidate Andrew Cuomo. Over half New York voters either embraced or simply ignored his democratic socialist label to give him a mandate for societal change.
But what about the socialists who are not democratic, seeking instead an authoritarian society that favours, indeed enriches the few at the expense of the have-nots? These folks are authoritarian socialists. They rig the electoral system to retain in power elected officials who keep the tax codes further enriching the haves. They don’t promote substantive policies to provide universal health care, free higher education, combat climate change, expand public transportation and infrastructure, fund the arts among important societal functions.
They’re obsessed with projecting US military power to dominate the world in the guise of national security. While the commons suffers, they squander trillions on economic sanctions, regime change operations, even outright wars that kills, injures or degrades the lives of millions. They believe it’s their moral duty to leave the dispossessed behind while they scoop up society’s largesse.
So let’s stop this nonsense of demonising democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani. If we support their prescription to uplift society while promoting true democracy, we are fellow democratic socialists. Sure is preferable to being an authoritarian socialist.
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