One day they can try to explain to their grandchildren how the two words Democratic Socialism were so scary that they...

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2. Scary?

I don’t find it scary. I don’t find it at all. Like the Big Bad Wolf or the Wicked Witch of the West, it is a concept used to scare those who still think there is really something to fear. Slogans don’t scare me—just those who use them to convince those who want to be convinced of something; those who think manipulation is preferable to winning over with reason (less work, probably).

Like Bush II’s “compassionate conservatism.” In the beginning, he got away with the slogan. It took less than a year for it to have disappeared from their dialogue. Sometimes the left latches onto a slogan they can’t let go of, either. For example, the once-powerful and once-respected Social Democrats here in Germany adopted the election campaign phrase “mehr Gerechtigkeit” or “more justice.” That did so well that it got them their lowest number ever in a national election, namely barely above 20%. That worked so well that they used it again four years later in the next election. That brought them UNDER 20% for the first time ever. A little imagination never hurt anyone except unthinking bureaucrats. The SPD, not coincidentally, is the party of the bureaucrats in Germany.