Alan Blinder Gives Advice to Democrats on How to Not Look Socialist While Calling for Socialists Policies

Alan Blinder

Alan Blinder, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, a former economic adviser to Hillary Clinton and a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, writes in The Wall Street Journal:

"Sen. Bernie Sanders—a Democrat now and then—calls himself a “democratic socialist.” Ugh. He should say “social democrat,” a term in common use in Western Europe. Wikipedia defines social democracy as “a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and a capitalist economy.” Notice those last four words...

"So here’s my advice for every Democrat: Reaffirm your belief in competitive capitalism as the best way ever devised to grow economies, create jobs and advance human well-being. But emphasize this important lesson of history: It isn’t hard to smooth the sharpest edges from unfettered capitalism—with social insurance, progressive taxation, a social safety net and the like—without destroying the vibrancy and magic of capitalism. It works."

So in other words, Blinder's crowd is pretty much just unwilling to admit they are socialists even though advocacy of "social insurance, progressive taxation, a social safety net and the like" are major socialists steps that are not much different from what the current democratic socialists are advocating.

From the web site of the Democratic Socialists of America:

Democracy and socialism go hand in hand...

Although capitalism will be with us for a long time, reforms we win now—raising the minimum wage, securing a national health plan, and demanding passage of right-to-strike legislation—can bring us closer to socialism.

It pays to recall what Ludwig von Mises wrote about democratic socialism in his 1944 book, Omnipotent Government:

“Every step which leads from capitalism toward planning is necessarily a step nearer to absolutism and dictatorship.”
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“These self-styled liberals and progressives are honestly convinced that they are true democrats. But their notion of democracy is just the opposite of that of the nineteenth century. They confuse democracy with socialism. They not only do not see that socialism and democracy are incompatible but they believe that socialism alone means real democracy."

-RW