The "S" word...

Socialism, a word that encompasses a political philosophy that is sometimes hard to quantify except for in one manner, in the United States, calling yourself a Socialist is practically a guarantee that you will LOSE an election, regardless as to how good your ideas actually are. Is it any surprise that out of the 535 people in Congress, only ONE is a self proclaimed Democratic Socialist, and that's the guy on the left, Bernie Sanders, Senator of Vermont.

So what makes Bernie different? That's a good question, and, to be honest, I don't think I can answer it, only the people of Vermont can answer it, they elected him, Gods bless them.

It could be simply a part of the iconoclastic character of the state of Vermont, which seems to me to like to buck trends and be a trend setter themselves(I hope).

However, on the national stage, being a Socialist can cost you an election. This is because of a combination of misinformation and accusations that date back to the Cold War and even before the war. "Red Scares" and accusations of Communism were enough to wreck lives and suppress political activism in all areas of life. The erroneous association of Socialism with Communism, which are related, but also different, political philosophies, lead to electoral and personal failures of many Socialists in the country.

The irony is that while Americans generally don't like the word "Socialism" itself, the policies of Socialists or ideas of Socialism itself aren't nearly as strongly opposed. A classic example is that of Upton Sinclair, who was an author in the first half of the 20th century, and was also a political candidate in California for Senator, Congressman, and Governor. He was a Socialist, and when he ran under that label, he lost, however, on his Governor run, he ran under the Democratic Party, and, while he still lost, didn't lose by nearly as large a margin, the Republicans smeared him as a "Communist" during his run.

"The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them."--Upton Sinclair

He was right, of course, the American people like the policies of Socialism, at least to a limited extent. Most Americans prefer Socialism in small doses, if not in one solid platform, and they prefer solutions to problems that work, regardless of what political party or philosophy those solutions sprung from.