SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

Why Choose Social Democracy?

Is there a certain logic to achieving Social Democracy in America?   In respect to differing viewpoints and our Democratic tradition, most definitely.   Who buys the products and uses their disposable incomes to fuel our economy?  Who provides the needed labor to produce goods and services?   Should Capitalism remain unchallenged, in this age of high prices, and scarcity? Does everything require commodification?

Can Democracy be fully achieved?

All the talk from both the left and right about “how we have no democracy here in America. “

This opinion is so self-serving from each of the respective camps.   On the right, we have seen the total replacement of the GOP to something worse and more dangerous, a dominant MAGA. 

And on the left, we have the cancel culture and opinion of the DSA via their Marxist cadre groups from within, who falsely argue “we are the real existing socialism, “for America, no different than what the Communist Party USA pushed on their minions in the ‘60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s, and is a total deviation from Democratic Socialism.

The idea of a “liberal democracy” is being fully discredited by both camps.   The idea that has preserved our societies for centuries is under attack.  From “liberal democracy”, we have a court system, with law enforcement and prisons, and an immigration system, both with rights which we can all agree on.   

The direction of this argument is some kind of civil war so that one side gets subjugated.  And the argument that sometimes deaths are necessary during revolutions is totally unacceptable.   Means and ends get warped and twisted, and do not serve societies’ long-term interests, particularly in our nuclear age.   Is this appropriate? 

   Can we agree on an economic system?

The “right” retains a “rugged individualist” model, which leads to the obvious slogan “we either hang together or we hang separately.”    It looks like the latter hanging is prevailing.  The “left” pines for a collectivist form, which has its own pitfalls. We saw what happened to the USSR’s “real existing socialism.” There were no workers’ rights, no freedom-like speech and artistic liberty.

Why can’t we create a system which ultimately establishes the dignity and self-worth of every individual member of our society, independent of one's age, race, creed, gender identity and economic class through an agreed economic system that can achieve these ends?

Capitalism should never stand still.  It needs constant critique.  Some argue that Marx was no “Nostradamus, “yet this statement is so disingenuous, he tried, to tell his German comrades where capitalism was going, until Eduard Berstein made the “astonishing” claim, through Marx’s own procedures, science and data, that Marx’s theories were going nowhere; the middle class never collapsed, and capitalism never fall under its own weight, other than towards a more humane and egalitarian society.

           Can Socialism be fully achieved here in America?

The real answer here is unknown.   Democracy serves as a safeguard for better ideas to be put into action, but when those reforms fail or stop, then democracy is no longer perceived as a pathway and then folks wander into the right-wing domain.  

Eduard Bernstein, failed to answer the question of socialism and responded, “the movement is everything.”  This response is in favor of a political party which safeguards the middle and working class against tyranny and speaks for further reforms.  The reform work should continue always and address the needs of the working and middle classes AT EVERY MOMENT, AS ADVOCATE.   And whether those further reforms are “socialism” is for historians and others   to argue.   But along the way, we need to evaluate the reforms and argue whether they are acceptable for the middle and working class.   This seems like logic.

But this business of billionaires and a run-away pentagon has to end.  We KNOW what is wrong, and we can make our world much better! 

Kevin McGuire, September 2026