XPost: alt.politics.socialism.democratic, alt.politics.republicans,   
   sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson will be the second   
   self-described socialist to lead the city, but the similarities may end   
   there.   
      
   Edwin “Doc” Brown was elected by Seattle voters in 1922 on a socialist   
   platform, but according to local historians, didn’t follow through.   
      
   “What they both have in common is the issue of livability, whether they   
   were able to deliver on that promise is a different question,” noted   
   Leonard Garfield, the Executive Director of the Museum of History and   
   Industry or MOHAI. “What Brown really wanted to do was lower transit   
   fares and strengthen public ownership of the power supply. He did that,   
   but he did switch his opinion rather early in his term and actually   
   became a friend of the corporate interests.”   
      
   Wilson campaigned on ideas of free childcare, social housing, and   
   raising taxes on the wealthiest of people to pay for it all.   
      
   But professor and scholar Aldis Purs of Seattle University says that the   
   concept of socialism has changed over time, and is different than   
   Marxism or Communism that are frequently conflated with the idea.   
      
   “We should redistribute some of that wealth because it was ill gotten   
   gains, and that those could go back to fixing societal problems. The   
   sense of the wealthy, the privileged, having to pay back into society is   
   probably some of the roots of the current fad for socialism,” he said.   
      
   But earlier this week, President Donald Trump was asked about Seattle’s   
   Mayor-elect and issues of public safety. He described Wilson as “a   
   liberal slash communist Mayor” “that’s more than socialist” and   
   suggested that FIFA could pull World Cup matches.   
      
   Purs says violence has not been part of the broader socialist platform.   
   “It is definitely a strange distortion, at least of the historical   
   record, because avowed socialist states, one of the criticisms that they   
   have of capitalist states is that they are dangerous and that they are   
   the ones that lack public safety.”   
      
   On Seattle’s dense Capitol Hill, where Wilson did extremely well, a   
   couple of voters expressed very little concern about Wilson’s   
   self-described “progressive socialist” themes.   
      
   “Some people can create the boogeyman behind socialism,” said Susan   
   Smith. “I don’t find it scary at all.”   
      
   “I think it means you’re focused on the income equality,” added Rick   
   Grossman, “I look at countries like Finland, Sweden and Norway that have   
   had social administrators, and Iceland, that have had social   
   administrators and those countries look like they've done pretty well.”   
      
   Wilson never really discussed how she would truly fund her socialist   
   ideals, and the road could be difficult given the tenuous time in the   
   local economy. Amazon just laid of 2,000 Seattle employees and has moved   
   other jobs to Bellevue after business taxes have continued to creep up.   
      
   However, Wilson objectively already fulfilled one of her campaign   
   promises to bring in City Hall veterans to help her navigate the   
   landscape. On Wednesday, she announced her transition team includes two   
   former City department heads, in the Department of Neighborhoods and   
   Economic Development.   
      
   https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-mayor-katie-wilson-socialist-trum   
   p-what-does-history-say-about-how-seattles-new-socialist-mayor-elect-wils   
   on-will-lead   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)