Socialist by Any Other Name

Here's a riddle for you. What's the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist? Give up? Well you're not alone, 'cause that's what Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz did when she was asked that exact question in two separate TV interviews last week. The first time was with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

Matthews began by saying that he once knew the answer to this question; he then asked Wasserman Schultz pointblank, "What is the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist?" The woman suddenly looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. She had no answer. After an uncomfortable giggle, she went into boilerplate DNC talking points about Trump and the Republican Party. She absolutely wouldn't answer.

Then when Wasserman Schultz spoke Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd she was asked again and for the second time she evaded answering the question of explaining the difference between Democrats and Socialists. Once again she chose instead to change the subject by hammering the GOP. There are only three possibilities why she didn't answer the question.

Either (1) she really doesn't know the answer; (2) she knows but doesn't want to say for political reasons; or (3) she knows that there is no discernable difference between Democrats and Socialists in America today. I'd put my money on number 3 because there really is no difference anymore. Today's Democratic Party is not your father's Democratic Party of 50 years ago.

Our Democratic Party today has gone so far left that it is more in line with the Democratic Socialistic parties of Europe then it is with old time traditional Dems like John Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. Most of the "old school" Democrats have been phased out or have left the party, such as Joe Lieberman. The vast majority of Democratic Party policies and core beliefs are far-left progressive, having more in common with Socialistic Marxism than free market Capitalism.

But the Dems won't admit to embracing Socialism, at least not yet. They love euphemisms, so they call themselves anything except what they really are. The one thing about Bernie Sanders is that he's honest about who he is, he calls himself a Democratic Socialist. For Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, and Elizabeth Warren the Democratic Socialist label also fits like a glove, a left-handed glove.

But here's the thing, when the DNC chairwoman can't or won't distinguish between her party and Socialists, that tells you a hell of a lot. In describing today's Democratic Party, "American Thinker" blogger James Longstreet wrote, "The Constitution is shunted aside by this party.— Laws are selectively enforced, and climate illusions are used for industry hamstringing.— Treaties aren't really treaties, thus Senate ratification is unnecessary.— Executive orders can and will rewrite and alter the intent of passed legislation."

Lenin once proclaimed that government controlled healthcare is the keystone in the arch of Socialism. Hello Obamacare. More and more government control means less and less personal freedom, and that's what the Democrats want, but they don't want you to know that. More regulations, more government programs, more income redistribution, more taxes for the working class in order to spread more money to the non-working class.

Hillary Clinton may not be honest or trustworthy or even very real, but she's not stupid. She knows if she is to win her party's nomination the direction to head is to the left, far left. She in all likelihood was always there anyway, but in past years she had to "triangulate" to the center along with her husband. But times have changed and now maybe she thinks she can finally release her inner Socialist. "Vote for Hillary and she will bring freedom and equal rights to all women" (just like Obama did for all blacks, remember?)

To sum up, the old Democratic Party is dead, replaced by a progressive, big government, nanny state socialistic party. But most of the country doesn't know it yet, that's why the head of the DNC wouldn't answer the question. Want to be a Socialist? Knock yourself out. Just have the guts to admit what you are. Quit hiding behind euphemistic terms, quit parsing your words, and quit changing the subject. Have the courage of your convictions. Have the courage to be honest. Is that too much to ask of a Democratic Socialist?

Maybe so.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. He's also a Southern California-based freelance writer.