Mike:
But on a more serious note, I’m geniunely puzzled as to how this is any different from what used to be called liberal Democrats (before and during the 1990s–and who were mostly purged from power by the Clinton era New Democrats) would propose... So it’s really hard to see how what is currently referred to as socialism would differ from Hubert Humphrey’s economic proposals.It would be nice to discuss this with a historian of post-war liberalism.
Kennedy did an income tax cut. What else? LBJ did the war on poverty but it was incomplete. They made improvements on Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid. Minimum wage increases. Incrementalism until the 1970s and Reagan. LBJ privatized Fannie and Freddie. FDR had the Second Bill of Rights but it was only minor incrementalism after he was gone. Taxes on the rich came down, yes Medicare and Medicaid were good but socialists were demanded single-payer Medicare-for-All. Better anti-poverty programs. Better housing programs. Better labor laws.
How did liberal Democrats collapse so easily into neoliberalism? From equal outcomes where everyone has a minimum level of dignity (see FDR's second bill of rights) to equal opportunity and education.
Socialism focuses on the necessity of government involvement in the economy and the centrality of the labor movement. It recognizes the hostility of corporations and the rich to economic democracy. Socialists push free public college.
What did Jimmy Carter do? Beef up the EPA? There wasn't a sense of fighting for working people after LBJ.
Bruenig on Medicare for All:
How did liberal Democrats collapse so easily into neoliberalism? From equal outcomes where everyone has a minimum level of dignity (see FDR's second bill of rights) to equal opportunity and education.
Socialism focuses on the necessity of government involvement in the economy and the centrality of the labor movement. It recognizes the hostility of corporations and the rich to economic democracy. Socialists push free public college.
What did Jimmy Carter do? Beef up the EPA? There wasn't a sense of fighting for working people after LBJ.
Bruenig on Medicare for All:
Medicare for All nationalizes the US health insurance industry, bringing it under social ownership and control. It also combines this nationalization with a universal public benefit program that should be very popular and appealing to socialists and non-socialists alike. Thus it is a fairly straightforward democratic socialist strategy as it moves the ball on social ownership through incremental reforms that could win popular democratic support.Ocasio-Cortez sounds a lot like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.
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