I agree with Sanders on his ideas about “oligarchy” undermining US freedom and prosperity, and was impressed with his book Our Revolution. —I agree with Cortez regarding a 70 percent marginal tax rate, (it was 90 percent under Franklin Roosevelt) and about INVESTING (tax revenue not charity) into healthcare, education, and infrastructure, including less fossil-intensive energy sources. —-But I don’t grasp how Sanders or Cortez call themselves “Democratic Socialist.” —Using the term is counter-productive, imo. It invokes so much fear and anger in conservatives that it drowns out having a basic sense of fairness and compassion. —The term may also stoke uncritical idealism among many progressives to the point of preventing an appreciation for how much hard work has to go into grassroots organizing to counter the influence of big money which runs both major parties. —-Also socialism, like other ideologies, could be prone to a concentration of power as was the case in the USSR and in communist China. —-Marx’s models are useful as with other economists and theorists but he didn’t have super-human powers to foretell the future and he doesn’t deserve to be followed in any sort of religious way.—-I don’t speak for others, but I’m suspicious toward any usage of the term ‘socialism’ whether the speaker is in favor of or against it. —-I realize that ‘socialism’ probably will be the term-of-choice that those entrenched in plutocracy will use to disparage any challenge to their power, no matter how genuine, well-thought-out and grassroots-based proposals are, and that many of those entrenched in plutocracy will magnify any fault they can find among activists no matter how non-violent demonstrations are.—-I’m grateful for your help
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