I posted this answer, which is drawn from years of experience dealing with the American Left:
Speaking in terms of political philosophy, the basic difference between capitalism and socialism is in the relationship between the individual and the state. Capitalism holds that each individual owns his life, and is thus independently free by inalienable right to govern his life, including his social associations and property, according to his own judgement in pursuit of his own well-being, so long as he respects the same rights of others. The government’s job is limited but sacred--to protect individual rights equally and at all times. Socialism holds that the individual’s life belongs to the state: The government can thus dispose of any person’s life, associations, or property in any way it determines without his consent according to what it deems to be a “social good.”
To understand why rank and file Democrats now favor socialism over capitalism, one must ask what draws people to socialism and what does the Democratic Party stand for?
So what draws people to socialism? For one thing, a false sense of moral righteousness. In this regard, I’ll defer to Craig Biddle’s article, The Passion of Socialists, for his important observations on the moral motivation behind socialism’s draw. But socialism also appeals to greed, powerlust, envy, and phoniness, aided and abetted by widespread ignorance and a lack of respect for the rights of others to live peaceably by their own judgement. I’ll defer to my in-depth answer to the QUORA question “What makes someone a socialist?”
The Democratic Party from its founding has embraced the philosophy that America is a democracy, meaning legislatures have unlimited power to make law based on “the will of the people” as determined by elections. The rights of individuals are therefore subordinate to government, rather than being inalienable. In this regard, I’ll defer to my blog post Democracism versus Republicanism, and to Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People by Randy E. Barnett.
The Democratic Party has always leaned socialist but never honestly admitted it. It now openly embraces democratic socialism. The Democratic rank and file now favors socialism over capitalism because the Democratic Party intelligentsia now believes it is safe to be open about its embrace of socialism, and is thus a magnet for the kind of people who favor majoritarian tyranny and the supremacy of the state over the individual.
Related Reading:
Constitutional Republicanism: A Counter-Argument to Barbara Rank’s Ode to Democracy
Is There a 'Balance' Between the Rights of the Individual and the Benefits to Society?
QUORA: ‘How do capitalists justify the inequality/high disparity part of a capitalistic society that a socialistic system tends to stop?’
Aren't capitalist principles of supply and demand similar to communist principles of ability and need?
QUORA: 'Can certain forms of capitalism be made to work for the people instead of just the elite?'
* [Quora is a social media website founded by two former Facebook employees. According to Wikipedia:
Quora is a question-and-answer website where questions are created, answered, edited and organized by its community of users. The company was founded in June 2009, and the website was made available to the public on June 21, 2010.[3]Quora aggregates questions and answers to topics. Users can collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to other users' answers.[4]
You can also reply to other users’ answers.]
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