Sometimes I feel as though I'm living in the early 1930s in Germany, listening to Adolf Hitler espouse his views on how the Nazis will make people's lives so much better.

Washington Free Beacon:

In a Thursday interview with the left-wing Jacobin, Okere was asked to define democratic socialism, and he gave a remarkably expansive answer. "Democratic socialism, to me, is about democratic control of every single facet of our life," he said. "Government is led by the people, not by big corporations, not by multibillionaires, and working people actually have control over who we elect to be our politicians, over how elections work, and over how our government is structured. People have the power." Okere went on to say he believes socialism should guide a society's entire course, not just its political structures: Democratic socialism even extends to our relationships and how we treat each other. [It looks] at the world through a socialist-feminist lens, in how we treat people who are black, who are brown, who are femme, who are non-binary, who are gender-nonconforming, and who are working class. To me, we'll have achieved democratic socialism not when there is no conflict in the world, but when our societies are not governed based on power, but are governed based on the mutual understanding that everybody deserves a decent and quality life. This socialist vision of society seeks to overturn the existing order and should not be confused with the mainstream progressive left, Okere explained.

Like most Utopians, Okere should frighten the bejesus out of all of us. Once people get in their head that they know what's best for everyone, heads get lopped off, and the detention camps fill up.

Okere has received the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America, which backs such progressive leaders as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.). He faces incumbent Alderman Patrick O'Connor, who has been in office since 1983, as well as three other candidates. Although it's a tough race, Okere said he's happy enough just to be spreading socialist ideology. "This campaign is literally making socialists, and I'm proud of that," he said.

America is a country uniquely suited to Utopian schemes of all sorts. From the free love communities of the 1840s to the transcendentalists to the socialist nutcases like Okere today, American ideals have inspired perfectionists of all sorts to dream that their way of living will make us all happy.

What makes Okere's dream so terrible in its implications is that maybe, perhaps, not very many of us will share his thoughtful stewardship of our lives. Some people might even resist — violently. The Marxists in the Soviet Union had the perfect response: kill anyone who disagrees with them.

That is the nature of socialism and has been in every single country it's been tried in, from Russia to Venezuela.

Is this America's future? I'd say right now, the answer to that question hangs in the balance.