Why Is There No Socialism in the United States?

Abstract

Many theories have been offered to explain the absence of socialism as a significant political force in the United States. Although no theory will satisfactorily explain a "non-happening," this article offers an unusual theory: that federalism is more powerful than any other factor. The influence of the federal structure is expressed in at least two ways. The first follows Madison's original design, that the states will be numerous and so different from one another that a strong movement in one will be difficult to spread to others. The second follows from the design of the national government whose policies for the first one hundred fifty years were few in number and limited mainly to patronage of individuals and husbandry of commerce. Since the national government was small and not directly involved in coercive policies (which were reserved to the state), there was little to validate the socialist critique.