Sorry, capitalism. Democrats just aren’t that into you.
At the Feb. 7 Democratic debate in New Hampshire, centrist Sen. Amy Klobuchar was the only one onstage to raise her hand and say she’d be worried by a democratic socialist winning the Democratic nomination. Note that supposed moderates such as Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden were also standing with her. Only Klobuchar, however, was ready to say openly that it would be a political liability for the Democratic Party to nominate a socialist.
At the Nevada debate on Wednesday night, Klobuchar again signaled her support for the free market.
“I believe in capitalism,” she announced. Any such declaration at a Republican debate would send the audience into roaring applause. At the Democratic debate, a handful of capitalist enthusiasts clapped for just a few seconds. So much for free enterprise.
Later, the subject again came up as Elizabeth Warren called herself a “capitalist,” hoping to distinguish herself from socialist Bernie Sanders. Michael Bloomberg also called out Sanders’s socialist leanings, accusing him of communist sympathies.
“I can’t think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get reelected than listening to this conversation,” Bloomberg said in response to Sanders. “This is ridiculous. We’re not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that. Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didn’t work.”
Bloomberg was doubtless miffed that Sanders still believes billionaires such as himself should not exist.
Notable among all of these exchanges is that Democrats are largely reluctant to identify with terms such as “capitalist,” and announcing support for the free market is not a good applause line, which is fitting, given that Sanders leads the Democratic primary.
