Chris Matthews recently asked DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to explain the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist. She wouldn\u2019t answer. As we shall see, the reason why tells us a lot.<\/p>\n
A Democrat is a member of a particular party, but a socialist can refer to either a party or an ideology. Dominant views in parties can and frequently do change, while ideologies are more consistent.<\/p>\n
Democrats and Republicans are political parties. Their members tend to share common views on certain issues, but not always.<\/p>\n
Socialism and capitalism are ideologies. Socialists favor government control of production because they believe government officials are more trustworthy and wiser than would-be business owners. Capitalists favor market control of production because they believe individuals can be trusted for the most part, and should have the right to control their own capital, labor, and purchase decisions. Besides, capitalism works.<\/p>\n
Now back to Wallace\u2019s question. Several decades ago, the answer would have been easy: Unlike socialists\u2014who are statists\u2014Democrats are neo-capitalists who also favor some government intervention in the economy. <\/em>But this explanation is no longer true. Wasserman Schultz struggled with an answer because the Democrat party no longer emphasizes free enterprise. In fact, many Democrats are quasi-capitalists at best. How often do you hear prominent Democrats praise or even acknowledge free enterprise for anything positive? Most rail business and blame its leaders for every perceived social malady from income inequality to health care to unemployment.<\/p>\n But herein lies the rub. The President may be a strong leftist, but the current party includes large numbers of both traditional Democrats and modern socialists. If Wasserman Schultz embraces free enterprise in her definition of a Democrat, she will alienate the socialists. If she doesn\u2019t, she distances herself from many blue collar Democrats and independents who see themselves as moderates. Democrats can\u2019t win national elections without the support of this latter group.<\/p>\n Of course, Republicans have a similar problem. Many Republicans are not capitalists, but instead favor a blend of free enterprise, socialism, and cronyism. Today, libertarians and constitutionalists occupy the political space largely abandoned by the Republican party. They often vote Republican by default, if they vote at all.<\/p>\n Frankly, Chris Matthews asked a superb question, and the same should be posed to every prominent Democrat. To be fair, Republican candidates should be asked to clarify the difference between a Republican and a capitalist, constitutionalist or libertarian. Those who claim the values of liberty, rule by Constitution, and free markets should be asked what they specifically<\/em> plan to do (if elected) to vigorously promote these ideals. Any answer that doesn\u2019t include a repeal of Obamacare, a complete overhaul of the tax code, and a significant rollback of the welfare state is coming from an imposter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris Matthews recently asked DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to explain the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist. She wouldn\u2019t answer. As we shall see, the reason why tells us a lot. A Democrat is a member of a particular party, but a socialist can refer to either a party or an ideology. Dominant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}