Proud progressive tired of fighting with my fellow Dems

Another round of exhausting Democratic primary debates are over and once again I feel like logging off Twitter and hiding under my bed. The social anxiety is creeping in, and as passionate as I am about many of the issues discussed on the debate stage, I’m not looking forward to the prospect of defending my positions — with other Democrats.

What’s that? Oh, you thought leftism and liberalism were synonymous? Have you tried making the case to your friends and colleagues that Medicare for All is the best path forward for our health care system? Or that the top marginal tax rate should be double what it is? Or that every workplace should be unionized? I have. And it makes me tired all over.

Like 1.6 million other South Floridians, I am a registered Democrat, putting me firmly among the majority, outnumbering Republicans almost 2-1 across the region. My loneliness is due to my status as a proud leftist, a progressive, dare I utter it, a socialist (cue shrieks of horror).

It’s true. I am a dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America. This doesn’t mean I am a hypocrite because I wrote this column on a computer created by capitalism, or because I own an iPhone, or drive a car. Contrary to the exhortations of many, socialists are allowed to participate in society while also wanting to improve it.

But those are the simplistic, binary reactions I get quite often in Miami and Broward — again, liberal bastions that are comprised mainly of so-called “moderate” or “centrist” Democrats. These arguments are as frustrating as they are disingenuous. “Socialism” as a slur has been weaponized for decades; it’s a rhetorical boogeyman, a cudgel to silence the left wing whenever its policy goals threaten profits. These arguments are designed to stifle debate and endorse a corporatist wing of the Democratic Party that leftists find repugnant.

What else can you do when the boogeyman not only admits he exists, but shakes your hand and wants to talk about uncomfortable topics — like how a realistic climate change plan is incompatible with American capitalism; or that providing affordable, universal healthcare while ensuring the for-profit health insurance industry won’t be affected isn’t feasible; or that it’s impossible to make progress on immigration until we address the corrosive effect America’s foreign policy has had on Latin America?

Unlike other cities — New York, San Francisco, Austin and Boston— Miami and Fort Lauderdale have been uniquely receptive to this messaging. Democrats mostly agree on some important issues: abortion should be legal and easy to obtain, we need more gun control, war is bad and marrying whomever you love is good.

But a bastion of progressivism we are not. Many Democrats in South Florida hail from countries where their families fled cruel regimes that used leftist ideologies as cover to ruthlessly grasp at control, suspend democracy or violently oppress dissent.

In South Florida, we are unique in the pantheon of liberal urban centers because of our deep distrust of big-S “Socialism.” The distrust extends to expansions of federal power. Despite our bleeding hearts, we are full-throated capitalists. Look no further than the 2016 Democratic primary results in Miami-Dade, where Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a Democratic Socialist, barely got just 24% of the vote, three time less than that centrist standardbearer Hillary Clinton.

These people also believe that moderation is, in itself, a virtue. Many hope to appeal to a mythic “conservative swing voter” in Volusia County by hewing to the center, or avoid being called the dreaded S-word by Republicans.

Most dangerously, moderate South Florida Democrats are convinced that the rise of Trumpism was little more than a bout of temporary insanity. They believe that a relic from the halcyon Obama days will salve that wound.

They are convinced of these things, but they probably shouldn’t be, and that opinion puts me firmly in a minority within my majority. It’s lonely. And until it changes, I’ll be under my bed.