UPDATED: Inspiring Terror In America: The "S" Word

 And that word would be socialism.

Particularly in America, socialism seems to evoke an extreme response among those who prefer not to think like human beings but rather react, in Pavlovian manner, to dog-whistles. For the MAGAT crowd, socialism is indistinguishable from communism and would destroy all that is holy in America, including mom, apple pie, and baseball.  To embrace socialism is to hate your country.  

Or so the narrative goes and is believed by many. Consider the following: 

Now, it is easy to mock the profoundly ignorant. Unfortunately, however, they are not the only ones to be terrorised by any hint of socialism or real progressivism. The Democratic Party is also cowering. While the party has never been very comfortable with boat-rockers like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it was largely able to keep its powder dry until the advent of two events: the election of a Democratic Socialist, Zohran Mamdani, as NYC mayor, and the Michigan Democratic Senate primary victor, Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who holds a number of 'controversial' views, including (horrors!) healthcare for all. 

An article on Axios after Mamdani won the mayor's race is instructive:

Many Democratic leaders and donors are panicking about Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist who won the party's nomination to be the next mayor of New York City.

Why it matters: Establishment Democrats looking to recover from 2024's losses fear Mamdani could hurt the party's brand nationally — while young progressives believe his formula could spread beyond New York.

• Democratic leaders largely rallied behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York's mayoral primary, and Mamdani's shocking victory Tuesday was the latest example of the party's establishment being disconnected from many of its own voters.

• The top two Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both New Yorkers, declined to endorse Mamdani even as they applauded his victory.
• New York Rep. Laura Gillen, from Nassau County, called Mamdani the "absolute wrong choice for New York."
• Rep. Tom Suozzi, also from Nassau County, said he had "serious concerns."

Many Democrat Party stalwarts are also nervous about Abdul El-Sayed, especially his critical view of Democrats' unconditional support for Israel, despite their genocidal depredations in Gaza.

El-Sayed, the child of Egyptian immigrants, ran on a left-wing platform with the backing of such liberal stalwarts as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Stevens [his Democratic primary opponent] had the backing of Democratic leadership in Washington, an established record as an elected official in Michigan and deep financial pockets, including $32m from Aipac - the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Outside groups favoured her over El-Sayed by a margin of nine-to-one.

Aipac now plans to mount a campaign to defeat El-Sayed in the November election. 

 ... the group is unbowed and now appears willing to put what is expected to be tens of millions of dollars behind Mike Rogers, the Republican, as some of AIPAC’s major backers are urging, according to a half dozen people who have spoken with the group’s leaders.

The fear among many 'traditional' Democrats is that, in addition to his Israeli stance, El-Sayed's policies,  including government-sponsored health insurance, efforts to lower drug costs, higher taxes on the wealthy and campaign finance reform, may not play well to rural voters. 

Sadly, for far too long, progressivism has been treated as the third rail of politics, leaving one to conclude that what the people want and need does not necessarily coincide with the Democrats' needs. As far as I can tell, that need is to secure power. Why? Because Democrats want power. I see no grand vision there; I see no higher calling to serve the public, only that naked desire for power. And although I hope they do well in their mid-terms, I don't hold out hope of major directional changes, outside of curbing some of Trump's most egregious corruption.

Trump has turned the Republican Party into a far-right apparatus that benefits only the few. Perhaps it is time for the Democrats to embrace the idea of becoming a leftist party, one that truly takes the needs of the many as its blueprint for electoral success.

UPDATE: This letter from The Globe and Mail sheds some light on a major political disincentive to work for "ordinary" people:

American way

Re “Donald Trump has turned the United States into an economic banana republic” (Opinion, Aug. 1): A compelling picture of the United States functioning like a banana republic.

The rich growing conditions for “bananas” were well-fertilized on Jan. 21, 2010. In the Citizens United decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down spending limits on independent political expenditures by corporations as violations of First Amendment protections on free speech. In other words, the court equated money and speech in politics as having equal protections.

Political leaders paid attention to the millions upon millions of dollars in donations which started to flow from the very rich, and now seem to only pay lip service to voters individually and collectively. Only when the impacts of this decision are reversed can America return to the growing conditions required for grassroots democracy.

Martin Birt Uxbridge, Ont.