It’s easy to explain rise of ‘Democratic Socialism’

If you’re paying attention to politics lately, which we do, if only because we have to and not because we are in love with it, you’ve noticed that candidates who label themselves as ‘Democratic Socialists’ are winning elections around the country. Whether or not it’s enough for them to be considered a true national movement is up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is that younger people are gravitating toward them, and they are gaining momentum.
According to the CNBC Generation Lab poll, which received responses from 1,088 people earlier this month, 46 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 now hold either a “favorable” or a “very favorable” view of Democratic Socialism. Many people are deriding these views, pointing out that “Socialism never works,” although you would need a lot more space than this editorial provides to go over the nuance of true Socialism versus Democratic Socialism. We aren’t even here to tell you whether Democratic Socialism is good or bad. What we are here to do is shake our head at those who can’t understand where this undercurrent is coming from.
Work harder. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Get a job. These are phrases younger people who complain about their lot in life are told on repeat. And guess what? They are sick of hearing it. They are rebelling. Prices are ever-increasing. Home ownership seems more and more unrealistic. The price of gas remains over $4 per gallon in most places. Healthcare is either unaffordable entirely or outrageously expensive. Many are working hard with nothing to show for it. Is it really that hard to see why younger people have had it with the way things are or have always been? They are walking away from the systems we have known for years, because it has done nothing but fail them.
A $7 coffee isn’t the reason young adults are living with their parents longer and longer and can’t afford a home. It’s because the price of homes is skyrocketing while wages stagnate, the value of the dollar stagnates, interest rates are high and a 200 square-foot broom closet is $400,000. Dave Ramsey can’t save them, and the American dream seems more and more of a fairytale they only read about in books or hear about from their grandparents. Or maybe more appropriately, great-grandparents, if they are still alive. Is it any wonder this younger generation is looking for something—anything—to give them hope for the future?
It’s can be hard for even 40-somethings to get by in this climate. Yes, there are always exceptions and anecdotal stories of younger people thriving. But to ignore the reality that many, many people are struggling does not help anyone’s cause or desire to make things better for all Americans. Just because you refuse to see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
We aren’t saying Socialism is a good thing, or that it would even work if widely implemented here. What we are saying, however, is if that you can’t see why it’s gaining traction, then you just refuse to look.