Halloween is over, and apparently the scariest thing for Americans this past October was socialism.
After $13.1 trillion — yes with a ‘T’— I undoubtedly understand why the American mind has been conditioned to fear it. I am not a staunch supporter of socialism, and like many, I see considerable flaws in this form of governance. Yet, I see more faults in capitalism. If I were to blindly abide by the systems I was born into I wouldn’t have much to write about.
When I have conversations with folks that despise socialism, the sentiment tends to come from those who have benefited from its counterpart. As Upton Sinclar wrote in 1935, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it” and I would add that we’ve come to not only misunderstand socialism, but learn to fear it.
This fear is well-captured in Richard Hofstadter’s 1964 essay, The Paranoid Style of Politics. The most salient example is McCarthyism: an era when any idea that challenged the political status quo was seen as pure evil and framed as a conspiracy against the state. We see the same rhetorical strategy employed through Trumpism, where deviations from White House policies paint opposition as “communist lunatic[s].” Public hysteria, as Hofstadter explains, is manufactured to vilify opposing ideas as “the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values.”
This outdated playbook continues fearmongering against our efforts toward progress. Seduced by fantasies that some in the public are still willing to entertain, they remain stuck while the world attempts to put their best foot forward.
As we step into a new era of politics, we must recognize that democratic socialism is being woven into the American political mainstream. The growing number of democratic socialists taking office — from New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to Vermont’s long-serving Senator Bernie Sanders — suggests a public increasingly disillusioned with the Democratic establishment and searching for something more authentic and convincing.
More than it being a political issue, ignoring democratic socialisms’ rise is institutional myopia. While Elon Musk is projected to become a trillionaire by 2027 — yes with a ‘T’— 42 million Americans lost their SNAP benefits for 43 days. These egregious juxtapositions explain why the American public is no longer satisfied with major democratic capitulations in an attempt to “refund” a government that functions poorly regardless.
Against this political economic backdrop, Senator Sanders’ words hardly sound radical: “Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system which is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.” This impulse toward economic uplift is what drove many Republicans to vote for Donald Trump. It is the veil of fear that blinds the beggar who often forgets they are also the choosers.
The irony lies in how right-wing media and elites who profit from cuts to programs like SNAP have convinced those same struggling Americans to vilify the very system that could materially help them. Meanwhile, we have Democrats backed by the same donor class, posture on a moral high ground, as if advocating for transgender rights nullifies their corporate corruption.
In all fairness, there’s far more to these issues, but their simplification reveals a common thread: capitalism.
I should add a personal caveat — I am a Marxist as much as I am religious. Both, to me, are credulous faiths that offer refuge to those victimized by a system. Democratic socialism will not solve all our problems; in fact, new ones may emerge from its implementation. But what is clear is that our current system is failing, and change must be sought.
So allow me to lift the veil and demystify democratic socialism. Communism derives from socialism, not the reverse. In the 16th century, political thinkers envisioned a social welfare state devoted to reform. In the 19th, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels critiqued that vision and transformed it into the idea of a classless society that required a total overthrow of the existing order. And, put very simply, the 20th century marked the divergence: communists like Lenin sought violent revolution, while those we call democratic socialists pursued reform through the will of the people and existing institutions.
This is where we find ourselves today. Communism failed — and rightly so. Yet in defeating it, we also stigmatized its distant cousin: democratic socialism. I believe, however, a phoenix rose from those ashes.
All Nordic nations and much of Western Europe adopted democratic socialist reforms. Even the United States once did: Social Security Act in 1935 and Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Yet today, despite spending more on health care than any wealthy nation, we continue ranking last among our peers in outcomes. We pour trillions — yes with a ‘T’ — into hospitals, drugs and insurance premiums, yet deliver shorter lives, sicker patients and our life expectancy lags more than four years behind comparable nations.
The problem isn’t resources — it’s distribution and profit margins. A profit-driven system will always prioritize corporate dividends over public health, leaving Americans paying the world’s highest medical prices for dismal results.
Since 2000, excluding COVID-19, over half a million have died from lack of health insurance — nearly five times more deaths than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Should we laugh or cry?
That is capitalism at work, not democratic socialism. Maybe it’s time we reconsider what we fear.
Adrian Belmonte '28 is an Opinion Columnist studying Government in the College of Arts & Sciences. Hailing from D.C. and Spain, his fortnightly column Saved By The Bel has a voice as cosmopolitan as it is candid. Belmonte takes on politics and media with clarity and a touch of wit. He can be reached at abelmonte@cornellsun.com.
