Democratic socialism surging in the age of Trump, and a Maine candidate takes the leap

[jpak]

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/07/21/democratic-socialism-surging-in-the-age-of-trump/

A week ago, Maine Democrat Zak Ringelstein wasn’t quite ready to consider himself a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, even if he appreciated the organization’s values and endorsement in his bid to become a U.S. senator.

Three days later, he said it was time to join up. He’s now the only major-party Senate candidate in the nation to be a dues-paying democratic socialist.

Ringelstein’s leap is the latest evidence of a nationwide surge in the strength and popularity of an organization that, until recently, operated on the fringes of the liberal movement’s farthest left flank. As Donald Trump’s presidency stretches into its second year, democratic socialism has become a significant force in Democratic politics. Its rise comes as Democrats debate whether moving too far left will turn off voters.

“I stand with the democratic socialists, and I have decided to become a dues-paying member,” Ringelstein said. “It’s time to do what’s right, even if it’s not easy.”

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[Hortensis]

1. I'm afraid this is just the reactionary extremism

that political scientists are observing. They say that in these high-anxiety and hyperpartisan days extremism is growing on BOTH right and left.

I'm older, and although a lifelong strong liberal I confess I've developed a great appreciation for national stability. Also for the reality that just-in-time inventories, tax-cut-neglected infrastructure systems, and a population grown to over 300 million mean that starvation, or at least tremendous hardships, due to breakdown of systems is probably no more impossible than the current threat of fascist takeover that we are witnessing has suddenly become.

Plus, I remember when our current systems with the wealthy on even weak leashes -- before conservative dominance replaced the liberal era and set out to destroy them -- created widespread prosperity and socioeconomic mobility. We still had problems to address, but remembering the adult world I dropped out of high school to enter the workforce of breaks my heart as I see what graduates face today. I paid for whole semesters of classes at my community college with checks no larger than my weekly grocery shopping.

President Obama warned that our center has broken. We were united but no longer, and we have fallen. We MUST rebuild it, not break farther apart, if our democracy is to survive.

I'd like to suggest that our current problems arise not from failure of what has proven to work well but from its destruction. The huge reality that planetary wealth has quadrupled over the past 30 years but has largely gone to build new billionaire and centimillionaire classes that are incompatible with government of, by and for the people.

We must destroy them more quickly than they developed, and since there are 330 million more of us than them in this country alone, I believe we will. But it means I have no tolerance for clueless fringe experiments with my grandchildren's futures.

"It's not capitalism, stupid," it's extreme economic inequality creating classes who can buy senators with their chump change. We MUST protect our democracy so we can vote them into extinction.