The recent victories by three candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in House primaries in New York City districts, coming after wins by DSA adherents in key mayor’s races, have sent shockwaves through the political establishment. What was long seen as an inconsequential fringe movement moved to center stage.

Exposure of the DSA’s platform since then has only raised concerns further.

But you’d be mistaken if you thought radical socialist ideas were somehow a new feature of the Democratic Party. In fact, they’re already thoroughly ensconced in the party’s policy objectives. They’ve just been pursuing an incremental approach. Just look at their healthcare agenda.

Democrats hoped to jump to a single-payer system in 2009 but contented themselves with partial capture of the healthcare market through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), achieved primarily by expanding Medicaid. Never ones to let a crisis go to waste, they used COVID as a justification for expanding government involvement in healthcare by pumping up subsidies.

Then they turned their attention to the prescription drug market. In 2022, they passed the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) without Republican votes and initiated a government price-setting regime on prescription drugs for seniors. The number of drugs subsumed under........

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