I am a social democrat. I think we should elect socialist politicians through our existing democracy. The socialist politicians will then vote on legislation to regulate the economy and ensure that corporations do not gain an outsized influence in the free market.
This has been tried many times and history shows that it’s a really effective way of getting yourself couped and get a brutal reactionary regime put in your place. The bourgeoisie is not burdened by any high-minded liberal ideals when it comes to preserving their wealth and power, they are going to do whatever it takes.
Here in the US, the people rule. Since socialist policies are in the interest of the people, they will want to vote for politicians who support socialist policies.
Here in the US, the people rule.
This is literally objectively not true:
https://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy
The US is not, and has never been, a democracy, because the people do not direct the actions of the government except on the margins. There is no democratic input on imperialism or capitalism. Those are invariate, and the system is designed to protect those from public influence.
Study: Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens:
From the abstract:
Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.
further down:
In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule — at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.
What is it, like, 70% of Americans want single payer healthcare?
The people rule so effectively in the USA that the candidate with less votes has won 1/3 of presidential elections in the 21st century.
How can you be a “democracy” if the candidate with the most votes loses the election? I thought that was the number one rule of democracy, the person with the most votes wins.
Since socialist policies are in the interest of the people, they will want to vote for politicians who support socialist policies.
Yes, you are right. People voted for Obama in 2008 because he promised nationalized healthcare. Obama also promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison. And people voted for Biden in 2020 because he promised student loan debt relief. Both presidents failed to deliver on their promises. Why? Because democracy in America is and always has been “bread and circuses.” Voting every two/four years is a distraction. Capital controls America, because it controls the American economy. How many elections do you need to see before you realize that it’s always going to be the same shit?
And any actual socialist will be destroyed by the press. Jeremy Corbin -> anti-Semitic (he’s not). Bernie Sanders -> misogynistic racist (he’s not, and Biden and Trump both have dozens of sexual assault claims against them). Same shit, different year. Capital, the media, and special interest groups stop all progress from happening in American “democracy.” No one has ever voted their way to a revolution.
