President Trump calls Democrats “socialists” and says they’ll wreck a solid economy if they win the White House in 2020.
But we found some Democratic presidential contenders who reject socialism and say it will take market-based solutions, not big new government programs, to improve health care, combat global warming and boost living standards. Some Democrats may even be more capitalist than Trump on issues such as trade.
“I am a proud capitalist,” former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said at the recent Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. Hickenlooper told Yahoo Finance that capitalism isn’t working the way it used to, and said, “that challenge of how do we make capitalism work for everyone is critical to the future of American democracy.”
Some of the louder voices in the Democratic field—most notably, Sen. Bernie Sanders—deride capitalism while calling for huge new government programs such as Medicare for all, the “Green New Deal” and a free-college plan. Sanders and his fellow senators Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand favor eliminating private health insurance in favor of a single, government health program covering everybody. Warren wants to break up big tech companies and impose tax surcharges on some corporations. And the Green New Deal some Dems favor would dictate how businesses in transportation, energy and other sectors operate.
‘Are you a socialist?’
That’s too much government control for some Democratic presidential contenders. “As a Democrat, I get asked now in interviews, ‘Are you a socialist?’ I mean, I never even imagined that a few years ago,” Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts told Yahoo Finance. “Give me a break. I'm a Democrat, not a socialist. And America's not a socialist country.”
[Meet the 2020 presidential candidates]
Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio told Yahoo Finance, “I’m a free-enterprise Democrat.” Instead of the Green New Deal, he says, “I understand that the value in really scaling up the green economy is going to come through venture capital and the private sector.”
Instead of Medicare for all, more centrist Democrats typically favor fixes to the health care system that lead toward universal coverage for everybody, but leave in place the private-sector system that covers around 160 million Americans. “I don't think people should be forced off of their private health care plan into a government plan designed in 1963 if they don't want to be,” Moulton says.
Most Democrats favor some kind of action to address global warming—but not necessarily with the government in control. Ryan, whose Ohio district includes the Lordstown plant General Motors just closed, thinks the government should set new policies prioritizing the development of electric vehicles, solar energy and other key technologies—but with a light touch that leaves most of the heavy lifting to industry. “I don't want it to be some centralized bureaucratic thing run out of Washington DC,” he says. “It's got to be the free enterprise system.”
[Meet the 2020 presidential candidates]
On trade, Hickenlooper said at the Milken conference that the Trump tariffs “have been a dismal failure.” He favors Obama-style free trade—without Trump-style tariffs—enhanced with better protections for workers who lose their jobs, including souped-up training for jobs that are available here in the United States, today.
Earlier this year, Yahoo Finance analyzed the top Democratic presidential candidates’ positions on four key economic issues, and placed each candidate on a spectrum ranging from more socialistic to more capitalistic. Most Dems favor tax increases on businesses and the wealthy, for instance. But those proposals range from modest tax hikes meant to finance specific programs using free-market principles, to large-scale tax increases that would transform much of the economy through government intervention.
One missing piece is former vice president Joe Biden, the front-runner who has spent most of his political career as a business-friendly centrist. Biden has been focused on his ability to beat Trump, without yet explaining his specific policy ideas. Since the last time Biden ran on his own, in 2008, the Democrats have shifted leftward on health care, climate policy and other issues. How far Biden moves in that direction could signal whether the Democratic nominee will speak the language of capitalism—and whether he or she can beat Trump.
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Read more:
Meet the 2020 presidential candidates
Meet presidential candidate John Hickenlooper
Joe Biden’s economic views need a major update
3 problems with Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax
Rick Newman is the author of four books, including “Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success.” Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman