Martin Luther King Jr.: One of the Nation's Great Democratic Socialists
"Regardless of how Americans identify themselves ideologically, the majority embrace ideas that some might call socialist. For example, 74% think corporations have too much influence; 73% favor tougher regulation of Wall Street; 60% believe that "our economic system unfairly favors the wealthy;" 85% want an overhaul of our campaign finance system to reduce the influence of money in politics; 58% support breaking up big banks; 79% think the wealthy don't pay their fair share of taxes; 85% favor paid family leave; 80% of Democrats and half the public support single-payer Medicare for all; 75% of Americans (including 53% of Republicans) support an increase in the federal minimum wage to $12.50, while 63% favor a $15 minimum wage; well over 70% support workers' rights to unionize; and 92% want a society with far less income disparity. If these ideas seem "radical," it is worth remembering that many things that today we take for granted -- Social Security, the minimum wage, child labor laws, voting rights for women and African Americans, Medicare, and laws protecting consumers from unsafe products and protecting workers from unsafe workplaces -- were once considered radical, too. Ideas that were once espoused by socialists and seemed radical have become common sense."
