Nov 29, 2025 By Gary Stout 5 min read

On Oct. 27, Tom Flickinger presented Observer-Reporter readers with a political commentary entitled, “What is socialism and has it ever worked?” I found it interesting that Flickinger would choose this moment to debunk socialism when Donald Trump and his MAGA followers are firmly in charge. Before the November election, aside from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the avowed number of democratic socialists serving in office represented very few voices in a very large country.

When democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated the more traditional Andrew Cuomo (running as an independent) to become mayor of New York City, Republican motivations became clearer. Going into next year’s mid-term campaigns, based on Mamdani’s election, the plan is to label all Democrats as “dangerous socialists.” Republicans are inventing a scary diversion to take attention away from the most mean-spirited, anti-democratic administration in the nation’s history.

The truth is that most Democrats, like most Americans, would label themselves democratic capitalists, not democratic socialists. The United States is a country that believes in the former while often borrowing ideas from the latter, like the recent agreement on the importance of “affordability.”

It is important to understand the differences in the two ideologies. Democratic capitalism maintains a private, free-market economy while using democratic processes to regulate it and to provide a social safety net.

In contrast, democratic socialism calls for greater social ownership, worker control, and gradual redistribution of wealth. Its adherents use democratic means, never violence, to achieve these goals.

Key goals of democratic socialism include: addressing inequality; providing universal access to necessities like health care, education, and child care; giving ordinary citizens a greater voice in the decisions that affect their working lives and communities; managing the economy with democratic goals, not just profit-making, and advocating for an environmentally sound economy. Many Americans support some or all of these objectives without realizing they are basic pillars of democratic socialism.

In our 250-year history, the United States has relied on democratic capitalism to contain free markets by enacting laws and implementing safeguards to prevent abuses. Our country has never strayed far from its democratic capitalist roots. Unlike Europeans and Scandinavians, Americans are too enthralled with owning and accumulating private property and inherited wealth. However, democratic socialist principles like progressive taxes, civil rights legislation, and the Affordable Care Act have encouraged equality.

For the past year, the policies of President Trump and his right-wing administration have ambushed democratic capitalism by attacking democracy and adopting policies of unregulated capitalism. In many respects, unregulated capitalism of the wealthy is a larger threat to democracy than unregulated socialism of the masses.

I have no disagreement with Flickinger’s conclusion, in his criticism of socialism, that “Most countries experienced severe economic decline and authoritarianism, while others, which blend socialism with elements of capitalism, achieved greater social stability and prosperity.”

The examples he cites of failed socialism were either based on totalitarian communism, or were outright dictatorships. None of his failed examples were democratic. However, the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland) that employ many elements of democratic socialism have been highly successful. These nations have strong social safety nets, higher taxes, and a commitment to social welfare programs. They operate within a regulated market economy and democratic framework.

Democratic socialism is a political ideology that combines democratic governance with public ownership of important societal functions like health care and education. It encourages economic equality. Over the years in times of crisis, the country has adopted elements of this philosophy to move the country forward. Franklin D. Roosevelt did so with his social engineering in the “New Deal” and Lyndon B. Johnson likewise with his domestic “Great Society.”

There are two important points to emphasize. First, it is time to stand firm against Republican efforts to brand Democrats as “democratic socialists.” In fact, the “large D” Democratic Party is hard at work attempting to save “small d” democratic capitalism from a cruel authoritarian president.

Second, we should stop maligning democratic socialism and seek to understand what it has to offer our pluralistic democracy. There is much to learn from its guideposts. There are elements of democratic socialism that can help the nation recover from the recent economic and social carnage caused by the Trump administration.

For those looking for a short book on democratic socialism, what it stands for, and how it can address societal problems, I highly recommend “Ill Fares the Land,” by historian Tony Judt (1948-2010). He carefully lays out the “ills” of modern society and what democratic socialism can do to address them.

Judt admits that “democratic socialism is a hard sell in the United States.” Conservatives have incorrectly equated it with communism and argued it would replace constitutional liberties. Judt believes the problem is how we talk about it. Americans seem to forget the past laws we have implemented to expand social policy in favor of equality.

One reason Judt wrote the book was to explain the difference in liberalism (tolerance for dissenting attitudes) and social democracy (tolerance with the possibility of collective action for the collective good). Judt believed one key is teaching young people the value of moving away from material self-interest toward a better way to organize our lives.

In the final analysis, democratic socialism is simply a refreshing way to view the world through different lenses. Following the Trump administration’s decimation of our democratic institutions, we may again need to call on its wisdom.

Gary Stout is a Washington attorney.