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Republicans and Democrats each consider themselves a “big tent” under which a variety
of beliefs can comfortably reside. For the Republicans, those range from the far right (those, for
example, who advocate arresting all Muslims who currently occupy political offices) to the
center, and for the Democrats those who are from the far left (the current Democratic
Socialists) to the center. Who is on the edge of the Democratic Party, those considered
socialists whether they call themselves that or not, and what do they stand for? It depends on
whom you ask. Here are some Americans of the recent past, and what they have described as
socialism.
Harry Truman, in 1952: “Socialism is a scare word they [the Republicans] have hurled at
every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public
power. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called bank deposit
insurance. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called the
growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost
anything that helps all the people.” The federal minimum wage is another example from the
Roosevelt era that was described by its opponents as socialism.
Dwight D. Eisenhower during his Presidency (1953-1961) described the Tennessee Valley
Authority and federal healthcare subsidies as “creeping socialism.”
In his book The Conscience of a Conservative Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican
who was defeated by Lyndon Johnson in 1964, warned against the steady march toward
government control and “creeping socialism.” Ronald Reagan endorsed Goldwater and gave a
television address in 1964 labeled “A Time for Choosing,” echoing that candidate’s decrying the
steady march toward government control and creeping socialism as opposed to individual
freedom. Our own Senator Strom Thurmond, who famously switched from Democrat to
Republican and endorsed Goldwater in 1964, spoke about creeping socialism as a threat that
included civil rights legislation, federal aid to education, and federal poverty programs.
What were the programs described as socialist in the 1950s and 60s? They included not
only those described by President Truman and Senator Thurmond but also these: Medicare and
Medicaid; federal education and infrastructure spending; and supporting labor unions and
market regulation. In 2026, those “socialist” programs command widespread approval across
the political spectrum.
Here we are 62 years later, still having the same debate. President Trump has gone so
far as to label as Communists those who support today’s “socialist” programs. The questions for
voters in 2026 are these. Given the long history of controversy regarding socialism pitting the
Republican and Democratic parties against one another, would we be better off now if the
Democrats’ programs described as socialist had been defeated in the 1960s? What initiatives
are the Democrats proposing in 2026? And how radical are those proposals, really?