It was affirmed when the Democrats supported Cap and Trade, a conservative idea from a conservative economist, in order to curb our pollution problem and when the reform for health care was not single payer but an already compromised, government public option: the Democrats are the new conservatives. The conservatives… ? Well, who really knows what they are at this point. However, if for nothing more than their name they seem to still have an ear from the general public at large. The conservatives are too far right and the Democrats are, as Christopher Hitchens once said in 1988, his socialist days “dangerous compromisers.” 

But the Republicans are not just on the right of the aisle. They officially went off the deep end when they propagated the death panel controversy and it is evident that they are only in the health care debate for political gain. They have also rejected, on principal, any interference with business affairs while the Democrats have only proposed moderate half measures. It is for this reason I feel obligated to ask this question: Where are the socialists?

To be clear, I am not a socialist, I am a liberal and there are clear distinctions. But socialism seems the only manner in which one could contend with the Republican Party these days. If we have in our politics, a party that supports business, hands down, every time, we cannot have a party that supports the rights of its people in the same manner? A debate between the two seems the only way in which we might find a true middle ground as opposed to the middle ground as it is now which has shifted right.

But of course the socialist party could never get anywhere in America, it is a curse word here. Americans tend to focus on, for instance, the Nazis or National Socialists and yes they are correct in that the Nazis are socialists, but only in the broader sense that they were fascists. Believing that the Nazis were only socialists because of their name is like believing the Republic of Zimbabwe is really a republic. This is a misstep of logic. If one is a fascist he is a socialist by extension, if one is a socialist he is not necessarily a fascist. It is entirely possible to separate the tyrannies of former European governments from economic practices.

It seems odd that this should be the case now when Marx had key criticisms of capitalism that are currently proving themselves correct. To briefly paraphrase one element, Marx noted that capitalism might cause an economic surplus that goes to owners who then use the surplus to garner more wealth and power for themselves, eventually leading to economic crises. Sound familiar anyone? Between 1993 and 2007 the top one percent received 1/2 the economic growth. Between 2003 and 2007 they received 2/3 the economic growth.

The closest we have ever come to a successful socialist push is Senator Bernie Sanders who won his political race by a 2-1 landslide. We love to demonize socialism as “crazy” but when Senator Sanders says, “The government should make sure people who work 40 hours a week do not live in poverty.” you might disagree with his politics but you would be hard pressed to call him insane.

In America however, we shall never have this debate. To even suggest that socialism should have a part in American politics, no matter how small, is considered un-American. As the “economic-system-that-must-not-be-named,” it cannot even come close. To call something socialist is to win an argument.

But in reality having socialist party (far left), a democratic party (moderate), and a conservative party (far right) might be the only way in which we shift the political landscape to what it should be.