Will Democratic Party Officially Admit Its Socialist?

from Investors Business Daily The shocking primary victory of 28-year-old socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over Congress No. 4 Democrat Joe Crowley on Tuesday underscores what we have long noted: The Democratic Party is no longer a party of moderation but a party of the extreme left. And its moving ever faster and farther leftward with each election cycle.

The 57-42 drubbing of Crowley looks like the death knell not just for his political career but for that of his mentor House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Crowley after all was the hand-picked successor to Pelosi. He had outraised his far younger opponent by 10-to-1.

Ocasio-Cortez isnt a make-believe socialist; she belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America. And she had the backing of Bernie Sanders Our Revolution political group.

Our Revolution? Do they want a civil war? Its a real concern.

A new Rasmussen poll shows 31 of Americans think a civil war is likely soon while 59 fear violence from Trump haters.

Thats scary.

And by the way Ocasio-Cortez is no fluke. Shes part of a trend. Just look at who the leading lights of the Democrats are today. In addition to such progressive stalwarts as Pelosi and Hillary Clinton their most vocal and visible leaders include far-left Senators Bernie Sanders Elizabeth Warren Kristen Gillibrand Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. The House has so many far-left Democrats we couldnt list them all in an editorial. But they are numerous angry and pushing their side ever closer to violent confrontation. Take Rep. Maxine Waters an influential Democrat who had this to say about civility toward the political opposition:

If you see anybody from that (Trump) Cabinet in a restaurant in a department store at a gasoline station you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them theyre not welcome anymore anywhere.

As the violent rhetoric ramps up Trump officials (Sarah Huckabee Elaine Chao Jeff Sessions among others) have been harassed in public places and at their homes threatened with violence and even thrown out of restaurants because they work for this White House. It shows what the left really thinks of democracy. Is this a preview of what America will be like under a Democratic administration? Is this the future of the Democratic Party? Sure looks that way. The partys base is itself increasingly far left. As a study last year by the American Culture and Faith Institute of adults 18 and older showed 37 of adults said they prefer socialism to capitalism. Most of those were self-described liberals. That is a large minority wrote researcher and Executive Director George Barna. And it includes a majority of the liberals  who will be pushing for a completely different economic model to dominate our nation. That is the stuff of civil wars. It ought to set off alarm bells among more traditionally-oriented leaders across the nation. They already are pushing for a different model. In addition to embracing violence and the denial of such basic constitutional rights as free speech freedom of religion and the right to protect oneself much of the Democratic Party now embraces a spate of far-left ideas. These include such winners as:

• Open Borders
• Medicare for all (Single-Payer Health Care)
• Unrestricted Abortion
• Special Gender Rights
• Free Tuition
• Government Controlled Housing
• Deep & Dangerous Defense Cuts
• A Job-Killing $15-an-hour Minimum Wage
• A Guaranteed Income for all and
• Ever-Higher Welfare Spending.

Meanwhile the partys socialist-progressive wing which now dominates love-hugs all these ideas. And its actively anti-capitalist. Left Behind Parts of this agenda of unbridled socialism show up in Democrats official new policy blueprint called A Better Deal. A better name would be A Rawer Deal because these ideas have been tried before and failed. As weve noted here repeatedly there are no successful socialist countries. None. Its an unworkable inhuman system that replaces individual rights and freedom with authoritarian control imposed from above all in the name of the people. Americans have had their economic knowledge systematically dumbed-down by the media and the schools from elementary school through university. Ask younger people whether they like socialism and a majority now say yes. Theyve been trained to hate capitalism and never lived under socialism. So they dont know its the death of all they hold dear and the end to their individual dreams. In addition socialism is antithetical to democracy. A study in 2015 by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu and University of Chicago economist James A. Robinson suggests that democratic systems are the only way to thrive as an economy.

Our central estimates suggest that a country that switches from autocracy to democracy achieves about 20 higher GDP per capita over roughly 30 years.

Its shocking because there are so many examples of socialisms failures today  from Zimbabwe and North Korea to Cuba and Venezuela. No socialist nation thrives. Ever. Why would a major American political party embrace such failure and misery?