From the WSJ – 7/8/2026
Mark Penn and Andrew Stein are right to warn that “The Socialist Threat Is Real” (op-ed, July 3). But they overlook its true origin. The Democratic Party’s current socialism didn’t emerge in a vacuum; it is the logical extension of the New Deal and the Great Society, which transformed the federal government from a relatively limited constitutional republic into the nation’s primary provider of income, retirement, healthcare and welfare.
Once Americans are taught that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not government programs but inalienable rights, the philosophical foundation for socialism has already been laid. If retirement income and medical care are rights guaranteed by Washington, why shouldn’t housing, college tuition, child care and a guaranteed income be rights as well? Democratic socialists merely carry this premise to its logical conclusion.
The debate has shifted from whether the government should redistribute wealth to how much redistribution is enough. Democratic socialists simply argue that if the government can tax one group to finance benefits for another, then even higher taxes on upper-income Americans and greater government control over private property are justified in the name of the “common good.”
Those who wish to halt the advance of socialism must challenge its intellectual roots, not merely its latest political manifestations.
Murray Sabrin