Poll after poll shows that America is a democratic socialist country.

So why do Democrats like failed Georgia congressional candidate Jon Ossoff continue to run on a Republican-lite message? Is it time for Democrats to move left?

After this week's disappointing loss in the special runoff election for 6th District of Georgia, Democrats are looking for answers.

Ideas vary on where to go next, but the general thinking - as New York Congressman Joe Crowley pointed out - is that Democrats need to find a coherent national message:

"Typically in this district the Republican wins by 20 plus points and last night's win for them was incredibly much more narrow than it has in the past as the same in the race in South Carolina. But what we need to do, continue to do, is focus on the issues that would help elect democrats nationally."

Ossoff basically ran as a Republican-lite. He ran against single-payer, he ran against "wasteful spending," and he ran against "Washington." Wouldn't he have been better off running as a real progressive?

A recent poll from the Progressive Change Institute found that Americans overwhelmingly support Bernie Sanders-style democratic socialist policies:


- 75 percent of Americans poll support fair trade that protects American workers, the environment, and jobs.

- 71 percent support giving all students access to a debt-free college education.

- 71 percent support a massive infrastructure spending program aimed at rebuilding our broken roads and bridges and putting people back to work.

- 71 percent support expanding social security.

- 59 percent support raising taxes on the wealthy so that multi-millionaires pay the same 74% rate in taxes as they did in 1980.

- 51 percent support single payer healthcare.

Wouldn't Democrats as a whole be better off if they ran as progressives? America is a socialist country!

-Thom

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