Karl Marx believed that “Democracy is the road to socialism.” Socialists seem to have found a generation of dupes to buy their ahistorical, fanciful pitch. A new poll shows 43% now have a positive view of socialism. An astonishing 65% of Democrats have a positive view. Socialism is now the rage on the left.
Like clothing styles, if you wait long enough, socialism tends to come back into style with generations with no memory of past failures. However, it is an astonishing trend in one of the most prosperous nations on Earth that outlasted a history cluttered with the broken failures of socialist and communist systems.
A new slick packaging of socialism has emerged with leaders such as Zohran Mamdani offering to teach people of the “warmth of collectivism.” The Democratic Socialists of America are enticing voters with narratives like “Imagine the end of capitalism.” Those words promise voters that there is a brave new world without landlords, debt, mandatory work hours, and “food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation… are common goods and utilities.”
What is incredible is that many are buying this pitch.
It is also ironic that this is happening not just on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence but also on the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.
As I write in Rage and the Republic:
“While he never visited the United States, his theories seemed quintessentially American to many of his generation. For a revolution that was triggered by tariffs and fueled by events like the Boston Tea Party, Smith’s general principles read like an economic version of Common Sense. It was a type of declaration of independence not just from the British policy of mercantilism (emphasizing British exports over imports) but from economic controls over individual productivity and self-determination….
In summary, Smith was first and foremost viewed as a political theorist, and his economic theories were closely tied to his views on the natural liberties of humanity. He saw capitalism as a liberating system for individuals to allow them the wealth and resources to pursue their own chosen paths. Conversely, he saw government controls and subsidies as forms of control and potentially forms of suppression of the human will. If people are to be truly free, they must have the resources to pursue that freedom. The government dole can become a type of servitude or at least a subterfuge for citizens. If they are dependent on the government, they are never truly free.”
The book compares many of these proposals to identical policies of the Jacobin movement in the French Revolution. Both the American and French revolutions arose during the same period, but one became the world’s oldest democracy while the other became the blood-soaked “The Reign of Terror.”
Notably, the Jacobins pushed for the same unicameral system that the socialists are now advocating as well as attacks on the wealthy.
The DSA is the direct descendant of the Jacobins in seeking to tear down moderating institutions and replace the president and justices with democratically elected figures by a Congress composed only of the House of Representatives.
As with the original Jacobins, those demanding these changes are not the working class but professors, pundits and young college-educated voters.
Pushing this analogy to a more menacing level, another poll shows that roughly 60 percent of Democrats now would support a military coup to remove President Donald Trump.
The return of socialism is like the reappearance of low-rise jeans. You are left mystified by anyone who believes that this is a worthy theory to emulate after consistent and catastrophic failures. Long forgotten is the disaster of the socialist government of François Mitterrand in France.
Most recently, Prime Minister Andy Burnham condemned the privatization policies of Margaret Thatcher: “The country surrendered control of the essentials — housing, water, energy, transport — and left people exposed to higher costs.” What he does not mention is that she followed the collapse of socialist policies under Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1977–78 during the so-called “winter of discontent,” which I also discuss in the book.
Perhaps Marx was right after all: “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce.”
Jonathan Turley is the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Who here actually read the poll?!
Can you give me its definition of “socialism”?
oh wait… it didn’t define the term…
There is that which is Karl Marx and the “warmth of collectivism”. There is that which drew another German to our shores. And the socialists have no explanation why. That German brought the special and general theories of relativity. And this idea: we cannot solve our problems by using the same thinking we used when we created them. We know him as Albert Einstein, also a Jew escaping Nazi Germany. His choice of country speaks to Benjamin Franklin. “Yes. Keep it”.
An Inconvenient Truth:
A handful of native born Americans have no constitutional rights and the U.S. Supreme Court has known this for over 25 years.
Several here blame the teachers. Better history teaching would help. It still wouldn’t be enough.
Formation is happening all the time, deliberate or not. It is like the air around us. Calm or hurricane force. Clean or polluted. We can read about all of those things and understand what the words mean, but it isn’t until we experience them that we actually know what they feel like.
History works much the same way. Knowledge tells us what happened. Experience lets us feel what it meant. Formation occurs when what we know encounters what we experience, until that understanding becomes part of how we see, judge, and act. A generation can read about tyranny, socialism, communism, dependency and the loss of liberty, but reading about them is not the same as living through them.
Meanwhile, that generation is being formed every day by the world it actually does experience. We keep thinking that teaching history is enough. It isn’t. Somehow, we have to figure out how to let each generation feel the lessons of history without requiring them to live through the catastrophe that taught those lessons in the first place.
Professor Turley writes, “What he [Burnham] does not mention is that she [Thatcher] followed the collapse of socialist policies under Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1977–78 during the so-called ‘winter of discontent…'”
And she served eleven years as Prime Minister and was followed by another Tory, John Major, who served until 1997–eighteen years of solid Tory rule. Labor under Tony Blair succeeded them, bringing the bungled Iraq invasion and uncontrolled immigration.
College professors are lying to students about this period. They’re telling students that conservative governments economically underperformed socialism. These scumbag PhDs lie with statistics, but there’s an overwhelming fact that proves them flat wrong: conservative governments were extremely popular during this period.
Another example was Ronald Reagan, who served two terms and was succeeded by another Republican, George Bush–twelve straight years of GOP leadership. Reagan was in fact reelected by 49 out of 50 states, winning the most electoral votes ever. Even Massachusetts voted for him. You read that right: Massachusetts. Mondale barely won his home state of… wait for it… Minnesota.
Even Bill Clinton eventually had to admit “the era of big government is over.” After that, Clinton’s popularity soared, and he was reelected.
There wasn’t just a “winter of discontent” in Britain. Remember the “misery index?” It was a measure of Democrat economic failure that got Reagan elected. Leftwing professors can’t lie to me. I was there. It was “my lived experience.”
How does any of that square with conservatives underperforming? It does not! Most college faculty are lying liars. At least Professor Turley tells the truth.
Diogenes,
It’s cute that you rely on your ‘lived experience’ as a substitute for actual economic data, because your memory seems to have conveniently blanked out why those conservative governments actually lost power.
You praise the 18 years of Tory rule under Thatcher and Major. If their economic policies were such a stunning success, why did John Major suffer the most humiliating landslide defeat in modern British history in 1997? The British public didn’t pivot to Tony Blair because they were bored; they did it because years of Tory privatization left public infrastructure crumbling and triggered deep economic recessions.
You brag about Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide in 1984. But if electoral margins prove policy success, then by your exact logic, Richard Nixon’s 49-state landslide in 1972 proves Watergate was a great idea. Furthermore, you completely skip over George H.W. Bush—the heir to the Reagan economy—getting booted out of office after a single term because a massive recession hit the country and forced him to break his ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ pledge.
Economic performance is judged by long-term metrics like wage growth, wealth inequality, infrastructure stability, and deficit spending—not short-term voter sentiment. Left-wing professors aren’t lying to students with statistics; they are just teaching them how to read a full graph instead of stopping at the parts that make them feel good.
Polls like this only measure the brand sentiment of “socialism.” They tell you next to nothing about policy preferences.
Socialism is not defined, so respondents have to project their own meaning onto it. Most may not know, for example, that our welfare state is neither purely capitalist nor socialism; rather, it incorporates elements of both.
#. The world, the US has reached complete degradation, even the spirit is degraded.
So it is…
What Turley and those crazies on the right don’t realize is it’s Trump’s fault for creating this new sentiment. It’s his failures. The irony is breathtaking.
Those who are promoting ‘socialist’ ideas and policies are succeeding because they are doing EXACTLY what Trump did in the run up to his first term. He listened to the people most were not listening to. They are also doing things that people notice…delivering on their promises.
Turley criticize Mayor Mamdani for the things he’s said. But he leaves out the painful fact that the Mayor Mamdani is actually doing what he’s promising. He’s running the city more efficiently, is more responsive to the city’s residents requests and needs like filling pot holes, fixing broken infrastructure, cleaning up parks and reopening them. At record speed. And best of all he’s literally engaged in their concerns. Things that have made him not only more popular than Trump, but more visible on the things he’s promised to do.
Republicans can’t touch that nor can Turley except whine about things he’s said that have been twisted to spook the ignorants and gullible MAGAs who don’t live in the city.
The panic is absolutely hilarious. What has happened is Republicans have run out of culture war BS to peddle. Nobody cares about the culture war issues when gas, groceries, and utility bills are rising faster than their pay every day.
One look at how Mayor Mamdani has successfully implemented his ideas and addressed New Yorkers concerns with the kind of attention that is unheard IS what is making people give Democratic socialist ideas a second look. Because the do indeed work and the mayor is delivering on his promises. He’s making New Yorkers lives a little easier and it shows by the fact that every where he goes he’s greeted with enthusiasm. Trump can’t do that outside a constantly shrinking MAGA crowd.
The Iran war is Trump’s and the Republicans worst problem and they can’t get out of it because Iran is in control, not Trump. He can’t help the Saudis because it risks using up precious valuable ammunition. He doesn’t have regional bases to rely on anymore because the Iranians destroyed them. Israel can’t bomb Iran anymore because they need whatever missiles they have left to protect themselves from what is clearly a well stocked Iranian missile arsenal.
Now Trump has the Houthis to deal with and he has no extra military power to deal with it because it’s costing him more and more money WE don’t have. But I digress.
Bottom line is more Democrats see the Mamdani-style ‘socialism’ more attractive because he’s literally delivering on his promises and showing results. And he’s showing he’s actively engaged in his city resident’s concerns every day.
A far reach to try and hang that on Trump. I would put it more on the cumulative effect from Johnson, Clinton, Obama, Bush and Biden. Unfunded wars, failure to take out Bin Laden, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Clinton’s repeal of Glass-Stegall. Obama’s printing of money, quantitative easing and COVID handouts, USAID frauds, all delivering us to a $40 Trillion dollar debt. The reckoning will come, just when?!
Wars aside, the Democrats ARE Socialists, this has always been their plan, Cloward-Piven, they just haven’t figured out that as parasites they have killed the host, when the host dies it’s Communism.
It is fascinating how you list almost every single modern president to blame them for the national debt, yet completely airbrush Donald Trump out of the equation. Talk about a ‘far reach.’
Donald Trump added a staggering $7.8 trillion to the national debt in just a single four-year term. A massive chunk of that came from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which non-partisan budget analysts proved blew a permanent hole in the deficit during a booming economy, long before COVID-19 even existed.
You blame Obama for ‘COVID handouts,’ which makes zero sense considering Barack Obama left office in January 2017. It was Donald Trump who signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in 2020, putting his literal name on the stimulus checks.
Invoking the Cloward-Piven strategy—a fringe 1960s political theory about intentionally overloading the welfare state—is just standard internet paranoia. Mainstream Democrats aren’t trying to ‘kill the host’ to bring about Communism. They are running establishment capitalistic platforms focused on corporate regulation, infrastructure investment, and standard safety nets identical to every other developed Western country.
Most of the people who are in favor of socialism (communism) are naive enough to believe life will be easy and free. But the price they’ll pay will be far greater than the price of gas they complain about today, freedom!
How so? Remember, Republicans control Congress, the White House, and conservatives dominate the Supreme Court.
Who has caused this economic mess? High gas prices? Growing inflation?
The economy is not doing what Trump promised. Everything is costing more and he’s pocketing more money thru corrupt deals and ventures that have absolutely nothing to do with how YOU can afford to live or improve your living standard.
He’s not proving to be the ‘savior’ from Biden’s economy he claims to be. He’s doing the opposite. Making things worse.
Except most of what you wrote is not true.
Prove it. Make an argument. Offer a counter-argument.
Hey X, gas is currently high due to a war to stop a theocratic, violent, destructive terrorist state from having nukes and other weapons while gas was even higher under Biden and the Dems due to intentionally destroying our energy sector to give their grifting allies billions of dollars.
PS. Inflation was higher under the Dems, the border was open under the Dems, crime was higher under the Dems, DEI and the trans insanity was out of control under the Dems.
PSS. Mamdani is a Jew hating terrorist supporting radical and he is attempting to steal landlords property and give it to the sate. He is NOt being succesful as you allege, he just hasn’t crashed and burned…yet.
If socialism can stop landlords and business owners and managers from being cruel and unfair, then how is this a failure?
If I am dissatisfied with my landlord I can move. If I am unhappy with a business I can go somewhere else. If I don’t like my manager I can look for a new job. How do I avoid a government that I want to stop meddling in my private affairs and decisions?
Currentsitguy, sure of you can afford it. But most can’t. So dealing with bad landlords and property not up to code and bad businesses improves the ability of those who can’t afford to do the thing you facially can it keeps those who help keep the city viable happy and more productive.
Crappy landlords are crappy for a reason. When the city from which they benefit also requires them to be fair and keep their properties which they CHOSE to buy and maintain up to code are also accountable to the city. Not just the tenants. They made that choice. If they can’t handle the requirements let a better landlord take over.
Some of the most rapacious capitalist institutions on the planet – universities – turn out 10’s of thousands of little commies every year who are resentful of the debt these institutions impose on them. But they somehow are taught to blame everyone BUT the people who put them in debt. Good trick.
ROFL! Professor Turley sure loves a good spin—especially when his target audience is the most easily triggered, emotionally fragile crowd on the internet. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why this poll shows a growing acceptance of ‘socialism.’ To be more accurate, voters are looking at Democratic Socialism—the kind practiced in the Nordic countries—as a viable escape hatch from this mess.
Honestly, more than half of the commenters in this thread have absolutely no clue what socialism actually means. To them, it’s just a scary buzzword interchangeable with Communism, Marxism, Fascism, or whatever other ‘ism’ keeps them up at night. It’s hilarious to watch.
Turley is literally running a masterclass in rage-baiting, tuning the right into a frothing, crazy-eyed rant-fest just to sell his books.
The reason the ‘good kind’ of socialism is looking so attractive right now is simple: Trump and his Republicans have utterly failed to deliver on their promises, and things are getting exponentially worse. Gas and diesel prices have spiked so high under this administration that people are actively looking for new jobs just to avoid driving. Inflation is still climbing, making everyday life unaffordable. And let’s not forget the data centers. Trump and the GOP hyped them up like the second coming, but their completely unregulated construction has caused massive water shortages, skyrocketing utility bills, and rampant noise pollution. Now, hilariously late to the party, those same Republicans are pulling wild 180s—suddenly denouncing the very data centers they greenlit because they desperately need something to campaign on.
It’s pretty pathetic. Congress just went into recess extra early because the Speaker was terrified of an impeachment vote on Pete Hegseth. So, how exactly are they planning to pass legislation to help their constituents deal with these rising prices? You know, the literal exact thing they ran on?
What we are witnessing isn’t a ‘socialist takeover’—it’s the systemic failure of Trump’s policies, with the rest of the GOP following him over the cliff like a bunch of clueless, loyal little lemmings.
Another entirely predictable comment from Mr. Lax.
YAWN!
Eating tasty zoo animals. Brought to you by socialism.
Three decades of teacher unions indoctrination and lies pays off..
Read Howard Zinn while chomping on zebra leg.
I thought you would be enjoying the imported beef rejects from Brazil Trump brought for YOUR consumption. They are cheap for a reason. Not even the Chinese would take that.
I think one of the problems is that now more half of those alive are too young to remember the world and the absolute misery of the Communist World before the fall of the Iron Curtain. I’ve actually read people now trying to say the East Germans had it made before the fall of the Berlin Wall. They have no knowledge of the murder of those trying to leave, or of the vast networks of secret police who could get you pulled in for questioning, or far, far worse, merely for a frustrated complaint or off color joke. They have no memory of the practice in the Soviet Union for forcibly confining outspoken critics to mental hospitals because “only the crazy could not realize they were living in the Worker’s Paradise”. They downplay or outright dismiss the Gulags and political prisons unless your name is Hasan Piker who seems to think these things are a feature, not a bug in the world he wants to bring about.
The problem is it’s not communism. The sort of ‘socialism’ that is looking more attractive is the same kind of ‘socialism’ being practiced in Nordic countries. Democratic socialism.
Our poorly educated Republican voters can’t tell the difference between the different kinds of socialism, Marxism, communism and fascism. So they bunch them all together and view them as one and the same. That’s what one would call pure ignorance and poor education. Steve Witherspoon is a great example of a poorly educated and emotionally unstable individual who cannot grasp reality for fear of realizing things are not as bad as his reality makes it out to be.
Why is the leader of the free world such a fanboy of the leader of the Chinese Communist Party?