This is really good news. This country has been stuck in reverse, or should I say “stuck in conservatism,” since the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Right after the presidency of Reagan we had a whole generation of young conservatives who helped keep progressives wedged between an older conservative generation and the young conservative kids. For progressives the last 30 years have really sucked. The peace movement has been dead, largely due to Democratic Presidents, such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Both of those men were from the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Middle of the road centrism seems to have been the best progressives thought they could achieve. Until the last election when Bernie Sanders blazed the way for the new young progressives and socialists to strike out against the conservative system. The idea of a socialist, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), elected to office, seemed far fetched just a few years ago. Conservatives, such as Fox News have gone crazy over the idea that there are enough socialists in the US to elect a person such as AOC to congress. There seems to be a lot of socialist young people in this country and there may be enough of them to actually bring progressive change to this country. The possibilities seem really good right now. –SJ Otto
MIAMI (AP) — Andy Vila’s mother remembers her son as a bright, rebellious child who enjoyed Harry Potter books and dressing up as the U.S.president. But when he began to embrace the same ideology his family had fled in socialist Cuba, she pleaded in vain for him to stop his political activism.
His socialism made Vila an outlier in his Miami community and opened deep rifts with relatives. He was briefly exiled from home, and his mother entered therapy to bridge their differences. To mention socialism at family dinners, “that’s a no-go,” Vilasaid. Relatives would “look at me funny and say, ‘We’ve escaped that.’”
At 21, Vila is part of a wave of young Americans openly supporting socialism, even among Miami’s staunchly anti-left Cubans. Although the definition of the ideology varies widely, it is making particular inroads among millennials and Generation Z voters, who are expected to make up 37% of the 2020 U.S.electorate, according to the PewResearchCenter.
While more than half of Americans rejected socialism in a recent Gallup poll, 43% surveyed said some version of it would be good for the country. That sentiment was held by 58% of respondents ages 18 to 34, compared with just 36% of those 55 and older.
The popularity of self-described democratic socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has influenced the 2020 Democratic candidates, several of whom say they at least partially support socialist-style policies.
Vila emigrated from Cubawith his parents in 2004, receiving asylum and a pathway to citizenship. Initially optimistic about a new country where anything seemed possible, he became disillusioned with the American dream after his family lost its home during the Great Recession.
As a teen, he identified as a Libertarian-style Republican and spent hours watching YouTube clips of conservative provocateurs lambasting liberals. He served as a congressional intern for longtime Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, and joined a conservative college group.
But something began to shift during the 2016 election. Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s increasingly hostile stance toward immigration alienated Vila, though he agreed with the party on other issues.
In this June 26, 2019, photo, Andy Vila, 21, speaks to callers who have phoned in to an anonymous know-your-rights hotline for immigrants who are in Miami illegally. He says his generation is more concerned with solving current problems than fighting past ideological wars. (AP Photo/Ellis Rua)
