It’s worth reflecting that not that long ago, President Obama had to deny charges that he was a socialist. In fact, the term, along with communist, was considered an epithet, and insult. It was a way of saying, “You’re way too extreme to be taken seriously.” This norm about socialism has disappeared, and now, in spite of the Cold War ending just 30 years ago, socialism is worn as a kind of badge of honor. People like to say, “I’m a socialist!” The Seattle Times ran a story wondering about what will happen with socialism in this years election. The real question is, “How did we get here?” and “How do we change this?”

Here’s what the Times rightly points to as part of the appeal of the socialist’s standard bearer in Seattle, City Councilmember Kshama Sawant:

Talking to voters on Capitol Hill, Angelou-Lysaker led with a question: “Hey, do you support rent control?” Then she explained how Sawant would like to limit rent hikes to the local rate of inflation.

Seattle can’t implement that policy without the state Legislature repealing its ban on rent control, but Angelou-Lysaker says the issue speaks to voters. Housing costs have displaced people of color, particularly.

The first answer to the question of how we wound up even taking such a destructive worldview seriously goes right back to basic politics: say what people want to hear! When Sawant ran for office originally, for state legislature, she almost nothing but “$15 Now!” That’s it. Nothing else. Why $15? Who knows? It was a figure that was higher than the minimum wage at the time. She ended up winning because she never wavered from that simple message, “Vote for me, and I’ll raise your pay or other people’s pay you think deserve it.” How much? $15 an hour. When? Now!

Contrast that with the mealy mouthed and counter productive sloppiness of an outfit like the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce which supported current Mayor Jenny Durkan with a “Make them (developers) pay their fair share” television advertisement in 2017. Here’s what is supposed to be the leading champion of markets and opportunity in the region supporting a tax on the construction of all new housing. Why? Because it would make them look more like Sawant; that’s why I call the Chamber the Greater Seattle Chamber of Communists. No organization has done more to normalize things like price controls and micromanagement of workers schedules like that Chamber.

Add to that the fact that, as the story points out, Sawant’s rhetoric “pushed City Hall conversations left on tenant rights,” a place it never needed to go. Sawant hasn’t really passed an significant legislation. She blusters and blares into a bullhorn, but it is the Chamber backed members like former Councilmember Tim Burgess and former Mayor Ed Murray who made her policies law. Burgess spent time criticizing Sawant privately but then lead the effort to pass a resolution that put the Council in support of rent control.

Will this trend continue? For what it’s worth, my intuition tells me that no matter what the Chamber does with its money, the Council that gets elected this fall will have a stronger connection with angry neighbors fed up with tents and garbage and needles in the park. Does that mean that the days of socialism are over? Probably not. Socialism’s sentiment is all about using someone else’s money to solve other people’s problems. Angry neighbors and their new council are just as likely to support rent control and other anti-business legislation as the socialists perhaps for less ideological reasons. My guess is that voters are over the novelty of socialism and are now embracing the idea of law and order, something that won’t speed up building permits or take away regulations that slow new housing.

Sadly, the idea that we can stop rising prices by just demanding them to stop going up is likely to stay popular. To counter that, we’ll need good and consistent data to show that, yes, in fact, when there is more of something it’s price goes down. Second, we’ll need good ideas like more direct cash subsidies to help offset inflationary pressure for people with the fewest dollars in the economy, and finally, we need to give people something they believe in, more opportunity. Until we change the narrative this way, we are likely to see socialism thrive.