People like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing the Democrats so far to the left that they are going to go over the edge. A new column excerpted below suggests that the embrace of socialism is going to hurt the Democrats’ chances in 2020.
The New York Daily News is a very liberal paper, but they published this column.
Richard Cohen writes:
Socialism talk will sink Democrats: How left-wing overreach could backfire big-time in 2020
I don’t quite know what a handbasket is, but the Democratic Party is heading in one to electoral hell with its talk of socialism and reparations. Given a Republican incumbent who has never exceeded 50% in Gallup’s approval ratings poll and who won the presidency thanks to a dysfunctional Electoral College, the party is nevertheless determined to give Donald Trump a fair shot at re-election by sabotaging itself. In fact, it’s veering so far to the left it could lose an election in 1950s Bulgaria.
Democratic socialist ideas appear to be making significant headway in the party. The Democratic part is fine, the socialism part is not. It suggests a massive government intrusion in the economy that has not worked elsewhere — post-war Great Britain or that contemporary mess called Venezuela — and that, in a cultural sense, is un-American. Time and time again, the American people have shown they want nothing to do with socialism. While socialist movements have at times been politically strong in Europe, such has not been the case in America. This, in fact, is one of the original meanings of the phrase “American exceptionalism.”…
The problem for the Democrats at the moment is that much attention is being focused on political novelties such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who espouse both socialism and reparations.
That’s a harsh but fair assessment. People know the Democrats are going this way, too. The public is paying attention.
The Hill reports:
Trending: SAY WHAT? Barack Obama’s Presidential Library Might Need $1.5 Billion
64 percent say Democratic Party supports socialism, says poll
Nearly two-thirds of registered voters in a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey released exclusively to The Hill believe that the Democratic Party supports socialism.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said that they believe the Democratic Party backs such an economic system, while 36 percent believe the party is opposed to socialism, the poll found.
The finding comes amid an ongoing debate among Democrats over whether the party should throw its support behind sweeping policy proposals, like a single-payer health care system or raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
Most Americans do not want socialism. As usual, Democrats are doing what they want, instead of what the public wants.
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