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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Why "Democratic" Socialist? Why not just Socialist?. Are there Republican/Libertarian Socialists?

Why "Democratic" Socialist? Why not just Socialist?. Are there Republican/Libertarian Socialists?

Is "Democratic" supposed to mitigate the stigma of Socialism? I don't get it. If you do could you please explain it?

Posted - February 16, 2020

Responses


  • 2706
    Socialism by any other name is still socialism. They tacked the word Democratic onto Socialism to make it sound less threatening and to make it more palatable to the unsuspecting voters and followers. Bernie Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist but don't kid yourself, he is a Marxist Socialist. Bernie Sanders campaigned for the Socialist Workers Party in the 1980 and 1984 presidential campaigns and was investigated by the FBI for his ties to the Marxist group. Sanders has always played down the extent of his involvement with the party, which included radicals who praised the Soviet Union and Cuban communists and has denied ever being a member. Asked in 1988 about his role as an SWP elector in 1980, he said: "I was asked to put my name on the ballot and I did, that’s true." In fact, his ties to the party are deep and enduring. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is also a Marxist Socialist. As is Elizabeth Warran but not quite as blatant as the other two. 
      February 16, 2020 7:53 AM MST
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  • 3680
    It depends very much on who uses the term, and why.

    In Europe it developed from making a very clear distinction between democratic Western countries that elect Left-wing governments by public ballot (such as Britain when the Labour is the Governmental Party), and the old Eastern bloc ruled by the Communist Party under the name "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".

    Actually the term is not normally used in British and European politics except when contrasting its own Left with far-Left tyrannies - we just do not need to do so.  Our Labour Party and its Continental compatriots are  "socialist" by ideology but within democracies that can vote them out of office just as easily as having elected them.             

    It is a distinction easy to blur, but I can see the phrase being useful to a politician in the USA trying to campaign on even quite moderate socialist ideology, in a country that seems terrified of the State providing anything even vaguely left-wing but which is accepted in other nations, including my own, as not undermining democracy at all.
      February 17, 2020 9:47 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Words are irrelevant or meaningful here Durdle. It all depends on the nature of the user and the purpose for the use. Folks are more hung up on words than they are on caring how to use them to benefit anyone but their dearly beloved don. They use them to terrify threaten extort badger insult attack. Mostly. That is what the don does 24/7 and all his little lemming adoring worshippers follow suit. There is a list of talking points and a script that is regularly given to all good liddle repubbacans and you will hear the words coming out of the mouths of repubbacans on domestic tv especially FAUX NEWS (Fox...the right arm of the don) and everywhere they gather together to worship don. Always talking points always scripted. They don't trust their lemmings to represent them with the proper independent thought. Too chancy! So they do all the thinking for them and that's why they all sound alike. The dirty underbelly of a cult which is what the don has been described as running. I dunno. I dunno if he is a culthead or not. Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply! :)
      February 17, 2020 10:01 AM MST
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  • 3907
    Hello Rosie:

    I'll give it a try..  Democratic Socialism is like the fire department..  It's socialism WITHIN a capitalist system.  The socialism the right wingers are trying to scare you about is the Soviet style of socialism, wherein the state owned the means of production.  Bernie's programs have NOTHING to do with the government owning anything.   All the government'll do is write checks..

    Clearly, Bernie is a capitalist..  He EARNS his living by SELLING books..  He OWNS waterfront property, and he JETS around the country willy nilly..  Looks to me like he's a capitalist.

    excon This post was edited by excon at February 17, 2020 12:47 PM MST
      February 17, 2020 9:59 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Whoa! You simplified it bigly for me excon! I guess that's what friends are for. I appreciate it and I wonder what would happen if "competitors" would just knock off all the bullsh** and just tell like it is without skewing it to damage "the other"? Is that such a difficult thing to do? I expect it must be because they NEVER do it. Thank you for your helpful reply excon! :)
      February 17, 2020 12:35 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Precise, excon---great job.

    If one simply googles the words liberal and conservative, one gets the basic difference.  Then to obfuscate things, we append economic modifiers that are not clearly understood as to their extension and comprehension to the more understandable basic concepts and become enraptured with the new phrases as if those phrases clarified things.


      February 17, 2020 12:52 PM MST
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  • 113301
    :):):)
      February 17, 2020 12:56 PM MST
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  • 13251
    Once upon a time, there were Republican liberals, especially in New York. Guys like Senator Jacob Javits, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (also VP under Gerald Ford), and state senator Roy Goodman were members of both the GOP and  New York's Liberal Party. The breed has basically gone extinct, although Mike Bloomberg was elected mayor as a Republican, so he sort of qualifies, but the Liberal Party went out of business years ago.
      February 17, 2020 10:07 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I liked Nelson Rockefeller Stu. No kidding! Once a breed goes extinct can it ever come back again? Sad that if it can't. Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday to you! :)
      February 17, 2020 12:55 PM MST
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