There’s a dirty word in American politics, and it’s not one of George Carlin’s seven. It’s not even a word that signals real danger. The word is “socialism.” More precisely “democratic socialism.” It’s a phrase that triggers gut-level revulsion in some Americans. Not because of what it truly means, but because of a historical smear campaign that dates back to the ashes of the Civil War.
This week, historian Heather Cox Richardson reminded us of that long legacy. In discussing Donald Trump’s latest claim that he would consider taking control of New York City and Washington D.C. if voters there elected someone he deems a “communist,” she identified a lineage of fearmongering that goes back over 150 years. “What Trump said today,” Richardson explained, “was that if Zohran Mamdani was elected, he would consider taking over New York City and Washington, D.C., because we would not have a communist in charge of any place in America.”
The target may change from Black voters during Reconstruction to Bernie Sanders to today’s progressive candidates like Mamdani, but the tactic remains the same, conflate democratic demands for equality with authoritarian state control. Paint anyone fighting for fairness as a threat to the republic. And then justify un-democratic action in the name of saving democracy.
Let’s start with the basics. Democratic socialism is not communism. Communism, in its Marxist-Leninist form, calls for the abolition of private ownership of the means of production and a classless, stateless society, usually through revolutionary means. Democratic socialism, on the other hand, accepts a market economy but insists that it be balanced by democratic control of key public institutions and a strong safety net. Think Medicare. Social Security. Public schools. None of these are communist. They are deeply democratic.
So why does the label still work as an insult?
To understand that, we have to go back to Reconstruction-era America, when the federal government briefly attempted to build a multiracial democracy in the defeated South. Formerly enslaved people were granted the vote, and with it, power to shape budgets. And what did they vote for? Roads. Schools. Hospitals. The very infrastructure of a functioning, inclusive society. White Southern elites saw this as theft. As historian Richardson writes in How the South Won the Civil War, “Any attempt to redistribute wealth by taxing the rich to provide roads or schools was painted as ‘socialism’, an attack on property rights and white supremacy.”
That same fear later took root nationally. Republicans during the Cold War found that linking civil rights, labor unions, and welfare programs to communism was an effective way to undermine them. As President Ronald Reagan once quipped, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” It was a joke. But it stuck. It created a moral panic around the idea that government could be a tool for collective good.
Fast forward to today. Donald Trump’s threat to override the democratic will of voters in New York City and Washington D.C. is a natural outcome of this narrative. When you believe, or have been trained to believe, that democratic socialism is a prelude to tyranny, then democracy itself becomes suspect. If the people choose a candidate like Mamdani, who advocates for rent control, fair taxation, and expanded public services, then clearly the people must be stopped.
This is authoritarian logic wearing the mask of liberty.
And it’s working. A 2023 Gallup poll found that while 65 percent of Democrats have a positive view of socialism only 9 percent of Republicans do. And that word means something different depending on who’s hearing it. To younger Americans it evokes Nordic-style universal healthcare and debt-free college. To older conservatives it evokes bread lines and gulags. That’s not a difference in policy; it’s a difference in storytelling.
We need to change the story.
We need to remind people that democratic socialism built the post-war American middle class. That the GI Bill, the interstate highway system, and Medicare were all collective investments. That public libraries, fire departments, national parks, and even the Postal Service are not creeping communism. They’re the proof that shared responsibility can serve individual freedom.
And we need to say clearly and often that if your candidate threatens to override elections in cities he doesn’t like, the threat isn’t socialism. The threat is fascism.
Democratic socialism in the end isn’t about taking away your freedom. It’s about expanding it so that everyone, not just the wealthy few, can participate fully in the promise of American life. It’s time we stopped letting an old ghost story scare us away from building a future worth living in.
Disclaimer: Jim Powers writes opinion columns. The views expressed in this editorial are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Polk County Publishing Company or its affiliates. In the interest of transparency, I am politically Left Libertarian.
