are styling them. Only one is genuinely far left, and he will never be president because of that and other issues arising from it.

The others are "establishment" Democrats eager to be able to harness the enormous power of the party for change. Any of those who has a chance to be elected will trim back or expand calls for change as feedback from the electorate encourages. It is the electorate who will decide what "too far" is, not hostile press. And whoever is elected will have have congress on board to get anything at all done and knows it.

Well said.

the fascists took over. We have been flying with one right wing for decades so its time to lob that off, grow a sturdy left wing and fly, fly away from this mess called fascism.

I wish the Dems would do more education about this. Also explain the pitfalls and limitations of employer medical insurance. It seems only people who lose it realize this. Oh, and they might be surprised with the definition of fascism.

Bernie’s not a socialist either, his policies are left-liberal/progressive.

Farm Subsidies, Unemployment Insurance, Workers Comp, Public Roads, Parks, Public Education etc.

These are the things Democrats support and are labeled Socialists by the GOP. Thom Hartmann describes these as "The Commons". Owned by all of us. The Republicans promote Fascism and we should label them as Fascists. My point was that we should work to educate Trump's base or at least the Conservatives that they are voting against their own self interests in the long run. They always look short term. That's how I view things. I supported Bernie, Franken and Warren.

and he was definitely a capitalist. So yeah I do see the education idea is great, but I don’t see these programs as socialist. They are liberal/progressive policies.

Many of the ideas we associate with the New Deal (or social democracy in European countries) originated with reform-oriented (as opposed to revolutionary) socialists before Democrats adopted them.

Maybe DSA might wanna take that on.

You said those thing aren't socialist, but they are. Intellectual honesty matters to me.

I’d say they are mainstream to most all voters in the US except the fringe. It is not the 1930’s anymore.

None of our candidates are socialists, including Bernie Sanders. He defines himself as a Democratic Socialist, and in fact his policy proposals are Left/Liberal Democratic ones.

Stop insinuating I am a liar simply because I have a different interpretation than you.

My assumption was that you didn't know. Most people don't. Whether or not the ideas are "mainstream" has no bearing on their nature. It would be like saying that since most people now accept that the Earth is a sphere that rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun, that such things no longer have anything to do with science.

“You said those thing aren't socialist, but they are. Intellectual honesty matters to me.”

Don’t piss on my shoes and tell me it’s raining.

Maybe you shouldn’t ‘assume’ so much. Student of history, read Marx, Gramchi, etc which shaped and continues to shape my political viewpoint.

I understand your passion but not everyone is your enemy or a liar because they have a minor disagreement with you.

But seriously, most people aren't very well informed in this area, and based on your (incorrect!) statement that those things are not representative of socialism, what else was I to conclude but that you were unaware of the relevant history and philosophy?

I wasn't intending to attack you, just weighing in on something that's a personal preoccupation.