Once a punchline of Cold War jokes and political campaign smears, socialism is undergoing a resurgence in the American imagination. What was once an ideological relic has become a promise of fairness, equity, and a counterweight to the perceived excesses of capitalism.
The problem is not that socialism is back — it’s that it is returning in a form unmoored from its historical baggage and immune to critique, propelled less by a coherent vision than by a sense of disgust with the status quo.
This isn’t to say the status quo doesn’t deserve scrutiny. For decades, wage stagnation, income inequality, and the hollowing out of the middle class have left Americans feeling dispossessed in their own economy. The 2008 financial crisis exposed not only systemic vulnerabilities but also a political unwillingness to hold elites accountable. In this environment, the appeal of socialism — especially to younger and LGBTQ Americans — is understandable.
But romanticizing socialism as a salve for economic injustice risks ignoring its failures. It is one thing to critique capitalism; it is another to embrace a set of ideas that have historically resulted in economic stagnation, centralized power, and the erosion of individual liberties. The fact that 21st-century socialism comes with a friendlier face — college debt relief, universal healthcare, climate policy — shouldn’t distract from the fact that these goals, however noble, are often bundled with a distrust of markets, institutions, and pluralism itself.
The resurgence of socialism is, in part, a reaction to a political climate in which populist demagogues have made a mockery of traditionalism, and establishment centrism appears exhausted. In contrast to the angry incoherence of the Right, socialism offers a narrative of moral clarity and economic justice.
But this clarity is often more rhetorical than practical. There is little consensus among its champions about how to pay for these sweeping programs, how to guard against bureaucratic overreach, or how to square ideological purity with political compromise.
At its best, the new wave of socialism speaks to a legitimate yearning: that the economy should serve the many, not the few. At its worst, it risks becoming a substitute for thought — a moral pose rather than a program.
In a time of cynicism, the resurgence of socialism is a sign of belief: that government can serve the people, that dignity need not be a privilege, and that democracy, when coupled with justice, can still deliver on its promise. But if socialism is to offer answers, it must confront its own contradictions as honestly as it critiques those of capitalism.
A writer and lifelong resident of South Florida, Cliff Dunn is the former Executive Editor of the Florida Agenda newspaper, Mark magazine, and Guy Magazine.
