Krauthammer wrong on democratic socialism

In his Feb. 12 commentary “Sanders and Trump: Magic sells,” Charles Krauthammer accuses the young Democrats swooning over the democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders with being “unfamiliar with socialism’s century-long career, a dismal tale of ruination from Russia to Cuba to Venezuela.” Krauthammer however, seems unfamiliar with the 70-year success of democratic socialism in most western European countries. Even conservatives like Margaret Thatcher, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, etc. did not eliminate the kind of single-payer health coverage, paid maternity leaves, free public university education, etc. which Sanders wants to implement.

As to Trump, Krauthammer’s designation of “caudillo” seems far too benign. That term has typically been applied to weak and economically backward Latin-American dictatorships. The best known authoritarian dictators in economically more-advanced societies were called Duce and Führer, and they failed even more spectacularly than the caudillos mentioned by Krauthammer. Juan Perón, by the way, was no caudillo, but rather an ardent admirer of German and Italian fascism. Nevertheless, Peronism was a failure, as Krauthammer correctly notes.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Krauthammer wrong on democratic socialism."