Democratic socialists are not the same as Norway’s ‘social democrats’ — here’s the difference

Giancarolo Sopo, author of an article in Quillette titled “Democratic Socialism Is A Scam,” joined Glenn Beck on Monday’s show to discuss how and why supporters of democratic socialism are intentionally conflating their far-left agenda and ideologies with that of “Nordic social democrats.”

“In a classic bait-and-switch scam, democratic socialist politicians and their allies in the media are hoping that Americans confuse them for Nordic social democrats,” Sopo wrote in his article. “While the terms are phonetically similar, those of us who have worked and spent time in Latin America understand that this is more than a misnomer. The ideology and policies of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which include an end to profits and ‘democratizing’ the means of production, are much more like those of Havana and Caracas than Helsinki and Copenhagen.”

Sopo is the son of Cuban exiles. His grandfather died as a political prisoner for opposing some of the same socialist ideas being peddled by today’s democratic socialist politicians and the media.

“Having been raised in a community built by the victims of socialism, it is difficult to explain just how bizarre it is to hear American media personalities—from The View’s Joy Behar to the Washington Post’s Elizabeth Bruenig—assure us it’s ‘just like liberalism’ and ‘unlike your grandfather’s concept of socialism.’ Of course, they fail to mention the part about government seizing control of people’s businesses and property,” Sopo wrote.

Sopo presented 12 Norwegian economists with a summary of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s economic ideas, as spelled out in a Vox article, and 11 of the 12 considered the DSA ideologies to be “far-left” or “fringe” compared to Norway’s political spectrum.

“The failure of pundits to discern between democratic socialism and Nordic social democracy is not for a lack of transparency on the part of DSA,” Sopo continued. “While their political candidates tend to resort to platitudes, DSA isn’t hiding the ball. In an article published in Jacobin, the socialist magazine’s editor and DSA’s Vice-Chair laid out a case for why Scandinavian social democracy is not what they have in mind, arguing a need for ‘a militant labor movement…to not merely tame but overcome capitalism.’ Further dispelling the ‘it’s just free healthcare’ myth, prominent democratic socialist Megan Day was even more explicit: ‘here’s the truth: democratic socialists want to end capitalism — and we want to do that by pursuing a reform agenda today in an effort to revive a politics focused on class hierarchy and inequality in the United States.'”