Democratic Socialist Primaries

People like Senator Bernie Sanders are old enough to understand that it was necessary to add the word Democratic to Socialism in order to separate it from its sordid and murderous past. After all, only the most diehard Socialist would want to be linked with the National Socialists (NAZIs) in Germany under Adolph Hitler, or the Communists in the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, or the Communists in China under Chairman Mao. These regimes imprisoned and killed millions of their own people.

Today’s Democratic Socialists believe that they can avoid the errors and excesses of the past and build a new society based on truly democratic principles. They believe that America has been undemocratic for years, and that few have shared in its prosperity, even more so during the current Trump administration. 

Although the recent victories of Democratic Socialists in New York City and elsewhere have garnered National attention, they are far from democratic. In none of these primaries did the winner get even 20 percent of the district’s total vote. Low voter turnout has long been common in blue cities. Why is this so? 

Low voter turnout in political primaries is traditional especially in major cities where candidates for general elections are usually chosen by party leaders, or by a minority of eligible voters. Either the great majority of voters don’t care or think that their votes don’t matter. Even on election day, most eligible voters don’t turn out to vote. Why?

I don’t think voter suppression explains why most Democrats didn’t vote in the recent NYC primaries. I think that rather than rising up to fight for equality and prosperity for all, most Democrats realize that they have it made. 

If we look under the so-called Big Tent of the Democratic party, what do we find. Unions, especially public service unions, are the solid core of votes and financing for the Party. They are the Party’s backbone. They are the party of government from the Federal government down to local municipalities.

Unlike the people they serve, public service union members at every level cannot lose their jobs, or experience pay cuts. Even in retirement, they have it made. They have pensions far better than ordinary people’s Social Security benefits, as well as superior medical insurance plans. None of them have to be enrolled in Obamacare. They and their families have been beneficiaries of government largess most of their lives. Why should they rock the boat and vote against Democratic Socialists who want to increase the role of government.?

My home state of Connecticut is always listed as a blue state. Bridgeport is Connecticut’s most populous city with about 150,000 residents, but the city has been controlled by Democrats for years. In the last Mayoral election the Democratic Mayor won over a Democratic challenger with about 6,000 out of 10,000 votes cast. Some Democracy!

Rather than people who have not shared in American prosperity, the core of the Democratic party are the public service union members who have prospered over the past 50 years from the tremendous growth of government at all levels.

Perhaps this explains why many hate President Trump so much. He is rocking their boat more than AOC. 

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