This exceptional half-century with very little reform explains a lot about our current politics. It helps make sense of the populist rage that led to Donald Trump’s election; millions of people are angry because the political and economic system is not working for them, and they have given up on establishment politicians.

It also explains why the word socialism has reappeared not as a demonic other feared by conservatives, but as an agenda for reform. Conservatives are reaping the consequences of their redefinition of capitalism. In a moment when many Americans feel that the system isn’t working for them, a system defined as immutable naturally leaves some thinking that we need an alternative system that is not rigged to benefit the millionaires and billionaires.

Nor does socialism mean what it once did. When you look closely at what today’s self-proclaimed democratic socialists are advocating, it is not state ownership of the means of production. They are simply proposing another reform epoch like the New Deal or the Progressive era that would include major legislative steps to reduce inequality of income and wealth, provide citizens with new ways to contain the power of large corporations and expand the services to which all citizens are entitled.