Probably because there isn’t much difference between the two. But if Democrats and various left-wing groups plan to maintain that there is one, it would probably help if they were better able to articulate themselves on this matter.
Hillary is not alone in this. The very special and ever surprising head of the DNC Debbie Wasserman Schultz was also incapable of accurately explaining the difference between these two supposedly different ideologies.
Debbie also does not seem to comprehend that the major difference between Democrats and Republicans has nothing to do with Democrats being the good guy and Republicans hating women and everyone else. It is an ideological different stemming, firstly big government vs small government and socialism vs capitalism.
Just like in the GOP, with its Establishment Republicans it’s Right-leaning libertarians, it’s Tea Parties, and other sub groups, there are some small factions within the Democratic party as well. There are more moderate Democrats, Democratic Socialists, rabid Socialists, Social Democrats and the like.
Still, if you had asked a Republican what the difference was between a fiscal conservative and a social conservative, the answer is really simple. Or the difference between a Jeffersonian Conservative and a Tea Party Conservative. It is possible to explain the subtle differences between thought patterns and views of specific issues.
There is little difference between Democrats and Socialists. The American Thinker notes, “Seeking to explain why, alone among the industrialized nations, there was no large socialist party in the U.S., the late political sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset contended that, in addition to socioeconomic and cultural factors unique to America, the Democrat Party tended to play a role akin to that of socialists in other nations. Since at least the 1930s, the Democrat Party has aligned itself with labor unions, espoused welfare-state programs, and sought to reduce socioeconomic inequality. ” A lot of this, is of course, related to the birth of the Progressive movement which sprouted in the early days of the 20th century. But even then, there is a large difference between men like JFK and the likes of Bernie Sanders.
The progression of the Democratic Party went from “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (And we’ll ignore the terrible president FDR was for the moment), to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” to the captain of the entitled, free stuff for everyone guy, Bernie Sanders and of course the utter embarrassment that is Hillary Clinton and everything she has accomplished…or hasn’t. To be fair there is some variety within the Democrats. Hillary and Sanders are very different with at times similar and down right contradictory ideas, mostly due to Hillary changing her opinions like she changes pantsuits.
Regardless, socialism has forever aligned itself with the Democratic Party. As Richard Winchester put it, “Today, there are still small socialist parties, but most socialists work through the Democrat Party in Congress and at election time.” There it is, right there. The Democratic Party and the socialist ideology are now practically one in the same.
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