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Two days after the 2020 election, which saw Democrats capture the White House while losing ground in Congress, House Democrats held a conference call to discuss what went wrong. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (DVa.) was unequivocal: "We need to not ever use the wordssocialistorsocialismever again," she said.

Indeed, socialism was something of a political loser this election cycle. The specter of it likely cost Joe Biden his chance at winning Florida. It appears President Donald Trump won over many Latinos in the state with targeted ads tying the Democratic Party to left-wing authoritarianism in Latin America. And while voters reelected all four members of the socialism-friendly "squad"Reps. Ayanna Pressley (DMass.), Ilhan Omar (DMinn.), Rashida Tlaib (DMich.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.)the consensus among the party's leadership seems to be that thes-word is toxic outside of heavily left-leaning districts.

Rep. James Clyburn (DS.C.), the House's third-ranking Democrat, urged members not to run on "Medicare for All or socialized medicine" in the future. Even some progressive Democrats echoed these concerns. "I think Republicans did get some traction trying to scare people on this socialist narrative," said Rep. Jared Huffman (DCalif.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "What's the point of embracing a phrase like that?"

Flirting with socialism may have cost Democrats dearly. If Republicans win either of the two runoff Senate races in Georgia, President-elect Joe Biden will face a GOP-controlled Senate. That would mean Republicans could block virtually all of the structural changes that progressives were counting on in order to consolidate power, such as D.C. statehood, an expansion of the Supreme Court, and nuking the filibuster. The Senate can also kill off lofty legislative proposals, vote down Biden's judicial picks, and thwart liberal Cabinet nominees. "The Biden presidency will be doomed to failure before it starts," frettedNew Yorkmagazine's Eric Levitz.

For democratic socialists, the 2020 election cycle began with great promise: The hard left had not one but two progressive primary candidates, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (DMass.) and Bernie Sanders (IVt.). But neither Warren nor Sanders could overcome Biden, the Democratic candidate who worked hardest during the primaries to put serious distance between himself and socialism.

Democratic socialists thought they were riding a blue wave. Instead they gave us divided government. That's not what they intended, but it might be the best possible outcome.

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The 2020 Election Was a Rebuke of Socialism - Reason

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Letter to the editor: Socialism vs. fascism - TribLIVE

Topeka Capital-Journal

I am a Democrat, one who is very concerned about socialism in America. As I understand it socialism is government policy to redistribute wealth from one group to another. I am not talking about Cuba or Venezuela, those are dictatorships. Their governments have been taken over by criminals who then steal the country's wealth and give it to their friends and themselves. I am talking about elected representatives of a democracy making policies to cause a lawful transfer of wealth.

Take Amazon for example. It pays no federal income tax but uses the taxpayer subsidized post office to save expenses. Or Fox News Corp. they pay little to no tax but use the education system to hire educated employees. Trucking companies pay nowhere near enough road taxes to make up for the damage they do to roadways. Mitch McConnell made sure that tax deductions were restored for the three-martini lunch in the COVID stimulus bill.

U.S. tax policy is the greatest socialism imaginable. The tax law allows property owners (hotels for example) to deduct the value of the property (depreciation) on tax returns making more cash for the owner. It gets better. When the property is sold the deferred taxes aren't collected then. The tax code says if you roll that money into another property the tax can be deferred further.

I agree with others who worry about socialism in America. It is time to stop the transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top of the economic ladder.

Ron Desch, Topeka

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This Democrat is worried about bottom-to-top, wealth-redistribution socialism - The Topeka Capital-Journal

Steven Strauss, Opinion columnist Published 3:15 a.m. ET Dec. 18, 2020 | Updated 2:04 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2020

Republicans attack Democrats as socialists, but the policies they support show they're the true socialists. Progressives should hold them accountable.

With Senate control on the line in two Georgia runoff elections next month, Republicans are claiming that President-elect Joe Biden and the Democrats are socialists. Thats their shorthand for government interference in the economy, corruption, failure to enforce the law, incompetence, and subsidizing people who should support themselves.

Let me suggest four areas where the incoming Biden administration, allied with serious conservatives, can fight socialism while upholding progressive values.

Eliminate farm subsidies and farm support programs (which will cost $46 billion this year up from $22 billion last year and will account for about 40% of this years farm income) that interfere with agricultural markets. As Chris Edwards at the Cato Institute noted: Agriculture is no riskier than other industries and does not need an array of federal subsidies. Also from the Cato Institute: About 97%of all farm households are wealthier than the median U.S. household. Farm income was 52%higher than median U.S. household income.

I know of no progressive organization that supports these farm subsidy programs. However, Americas farmers are different from other Americans. They are 95% white and do one thing the majority of Americans refuse to do: Farmers overwhelmingly vote Republican (President Donald Trump may have gotten as much as 85% of the farm votethis year).

Eliminate the money-losing socialist National Flood Insurance Program. From the point of view of progressives (who believe climate change is a real and pressing concern), NFIP makes no sense. It encourages living in flood-prone areas (where progressives believe flooding will get worse due to climate change) by offering subsidized federal flood insurance.As the General Accounting Office noted: NFIP premiums do not reflect the full risk of loss, which increases the Federal fiscal exposure created by the program, obscures that exposure from Congress and taxpayers

In 2017, Congress wrote off $16 billion in losses from this program. But by March 2020, it had already accumulated another $20 billion in losses. About 60% of NFIP policies were issued in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, which all voted for Trump this year.

U.S. Capitol building on March 25, 2020, in Washington, D.C.(Photo: Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

Invest $10 billion per year to fund IRS tax enforcement, targeted at the very wealthythose making over $1 million a year. According to a recent estimate by former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, University of Pennsylvania law professorNatasha Sarin and former IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti, this investment would yield about $100 billion a year in extra Federal tax revenues.

Sen. Sherrod Brown: Corporations exploit workers even amid COVID. They don't deserve to run the economy.

If youre a conservative who thinks defunding police enforcement is a bad idea,you shouldthink the same aboutthe recent defunding of IRS tax enforcement (by cutting the IRS budget).The IRS budget shrank 20% in real terms from 2010 to 2019,while in the same period the U.S. economy grew about 25%. The result is that the number of audits of Americans making over $1 million per year declined by about 75%.At the same time, the IRS was pressured to focus its scarce resources on auditing low income Americans. Notably, the main driver of thisIRS defunding is the GOP.

Make states routinely subsidized by the rest of the countryget their act together. Most American states are roughly in balance between what their residents pay into the federal government and what they receive back.A few states (mainly Democratic) are maker states (among them Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York) that pay vastly more to the federal government than they receive.

Then there are states that get back a lot more than their residents pay in taxes. These taker states are mainly low-income states in the southeast, most of them dominated by Republicans. Given our progressive tax system and safety net, federal money tends to automatically flow to these states.

If youre a conservative, transferring money from makers to takers is generally frowned on.If youre a progressive, it makes sense to ask some hard questions about whats going on with these taker states. Because, despite all the money these states receive, they dont do a good job for their citizens.

Mississippi illustrates just how bad this situation is.Annually, Mississippi receives $19 billion more from the federal government than it pays into the system.Despite this support, Mississippi has the highest homicide rate, highest infant mortality ratesand lowest median household income of any American state.

No socialist nightmare: Georgia, if youre listening, ignore conservatives peddling socialist Senate hallucinations

It's time the leaders in these poorly run states make changes toimprovethe lives of their citizens hopefully while reducing their hefty dole from the rest of the country. If they are unwilling to reform, maybe federal money and programs should be cut off.

Some of what Im proposing will require legislation, and the devils in the details. But if youre an ideological conservative, you should be willing to work with the Biden administration to implement some or all of these proposals.

If youre a hypocritical member of the GOP (that is, you want to keep using federal tax dollars to buy the farm vote for Republican candidates), and-or a Trumpist, you probably loathe everything Ive proposed.But its time for the incoming Biden administration to pull back the curtain on which is the trueparty of socialism in America.

Steven Strauss is a lecturer and visiting professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairsand a member of USA TODAYs Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @Steven_Strauss

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Who are you calling a socialist? Republicans are the real party of socialism in America - USA TODAY

Let Me Tell You Why Youre Wrong Podcast

In Episode 148 of the Let Me Tell You Why Youre Wrong Podcast, Dave & Jessica cover a myriad of topics, including your opportunity to blow up a building named after Trump, the Supreme Courts latest ruling on private Christian schools, and the narrative that Joe Biden is a fiscal conservative.Plus, the quest to make sure the path to socialism never runs through the state of Georgia and commentary about how poorly Republicans sue the government.

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This podcast drops every Monday.Subscribe to the LMTYWYW YouTube Channel Follow LMTYWYW on Facebook

*Opinions expressed on the show reflect the views of the commentators and any guests, not those of AllOnGeorgia. Show published on AllOnGeorgia with express permission from commentators.

Jessica Szilagyi is a Statewide Contributor for AllOnGeorgia.com. She focuses primarily on state and local politics as well as issues in law enforcement. She has a background in Political Science with a focus in local government and has a Master of Public Administration from the University of Georgia. Jessica is a Like It Or Not contributor for Fox5 in Atlanta and has two blogs of her own: The Perspicacious Conservative and Hair Blowers to Lawn Mowers. Connect with Jessica.

David Roberts is a native of South Florida who moved to Georgia in his teens. He joined The Army at 18 as a Psychological Operations specialist and served six years in that role. Since leaving active duty, he served in both Reserve and Guard components. After The Army, Dave went to work for Wachovia and SouthTrust banks serving as a business banker and Assistant Vice President. After a few mergers, he went to work with his brother, Rob, who taught him the HVAC trade. Several years of learning under his older brother and Dave was ready to go out on his own. In 2016, he started DR COOL Heating and Air in Dallas, GA. Being a prominent business owner in Paulding County has afforded him the privilege of serving his community and allowed him to become involved in politics. Calling himself a Republitarian, Dave was invited to host The Let Me Tell You Why Youre Wrong Podcast in 2018.

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Ep. 148: Implosions, Lockdowns, and the Path to Socialism - All On Georgia