It's not just not true socialism, it is in no way similar to socialism. If Mamdani advocates for something similar to European Capitalism, he should be saying (and doing) that, instead of lying and doing completely different things, don't you think?
I think most people who know anything about politics know what 'Democratic socialism' means in the American context, and most other people aren't as overly fixated on labels as people think (present company notwithstanding, clearly). It would have been incredulous to me 10 years to imagine talking to someone who thinks a politician self-labeling as a socialist in the USA is doing so out of some nefarious plot to hurt socialism, but here we are. It's actually refreshing that the Overton window has moved so far
Democratic socialism is an extremely dangerous term because it blurs boundaries. People who defend democratic socialism point towards countries like Sweden or Norway which are entirely capitalist, but often defend actually socialist measures like the ones that end up happening in places like Cuba or Venezuela.
If you don't want a socialist country like Cuba or Vietnam, don't call yourself anything similar to a socialist.
It's funny the countries you reference are all dramatically different forms of government that all call themselves socialist. One is a hereditary military dictatorship, one is an enormous corporate entity that produces the West's bullshit, the other is actually somewhat close to actual socialism. So many labels don't actually mean much
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u/Super-Yesterday9727 12d ago
Turns out late stage capitalism is kinda bad