If you’ve read any history, you know that the Socialist Party in the U.S. was actually pretty robust in the early 20th Century, but it gradually fell out of favor. Why? Was it McCarthyism? Perhaps.
Perhaps, though, it was because they realized they already had a platform…the liberalism of the Democratic Party.
Norman Thomas, six-time candidate for president under the Socialist Party said:
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of “liberalism,” they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” He went on to say: “I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.”
Reagan once quoted Thomas [1] in one of his speeches…so I take this quote as valid.
Just some food for thought as we debate card check, cap and trade, socialized medicine, nationalization of industry, etc.