My concerns about negative views of socialism were reemphasized again today in
Bernie Sanders is not just a garden-variety social democrat. Short excerpt:
quote:
The term has obvious applications to modern politics. As Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) looks increasingly likely to win the Democratic nomination, left-of-center people are anxious to downgrade Sanders’s self-described socialism into something more politically palatable like Great Society liberalism, or perhaps, at maximum, a Nordic-style welfare state.
Despite his own self-labeling, Sanders is not a democratic socialist, not according to actual definitions. I think the term "Great Society liberalism" suggested above is probably the most accurate, but it has two problems. "Great Society" is an antiquated (but legitimate and well respected) term from history, and Bernie should avoid a term that in a modern political campaign sounds old and tired. And "liberalism" is not the way to win independents, though "liberalism" is a definite improvement over "socialism." Combining "Great Society" with "liberalism" is probably an improvement over "socialism," but I don't think by much.
So what label should Sanders use? How about no label? He should acknowledge that (as much as he obviously loves the term) he is not a democratic socialist. He should say this election is not about labels. He should say that he's for government that works for all and not just for the few at the top.
But if Bernie really believes he needs a label then the right one is
social democrat. Click the link. It's a much better description of what Bernie is actually advocating:
quote:
Social democracy is a political, social and economic philosophy that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and a capitalist-oriented economy.
It uses "social" as a modifier, like Social Security, and Bernie could still advocate for those changes he'd like to see in our capitalist system.
But will representatives of the DNC be able to talk sense into Bernie? Not likely.
--Percy
Edited by Percy, : Improve clarity.