In 2008, after their greed, recklessness and illegal behavior created the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression - with millions of Americans losing their jobs, their homes and their life savings - Wall Street's religious adherence to unfettered capitalism suddenly came to an end.
Overnight, Wall Street became big government socialists and begged for the largest federal bailout in American history - some $700 billion from the Treasury and trillions in support from the Federal Reserve.
But it's not just Wall Street that loves socialism - when it works for them. It is the norm across the entire corporate world. The truth is corporate America receives hundreds of billions of dollars in federal support every single year, while these same people are trying to cut programs that benefit ordinary Americans.
If you are a pharmaceutical company, you make huge profits on patent rights for medicines that were developed with taxpayer funded research.
If you are a monopoly like Amazon, owned by the wealthiest person in America, you get hundreds of millions of dollars in economic incentives from taxpayers to build warehouses and you end up paying not one penny in federal income taxes.
If you are the Walton family, the wealthiest family in America, you get massive government subsidies because your low wage workers are forced to rely on food stamps, Medicaid and public housing in order to survive - all paid for by taxpayers.
If you are the Trump family, you got $885 million worth of tax breaks and subsidies for your family's housing empire that is built on racial discrimination.
When Trump screams socialism, all of his hypocrisy will not be lost on the American people. Americans will know that he is attacking all that we take for granted: from Social Security to Medicare to veterans health care to roads and bridges to public schools to national parks to clean water and clean air.
When Trump attacks socialism, I am reminded of what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor."
And that is the difference between Donald Trump and me. He believes in corporate socialism for the rich and powerful.
I believe in a democratic socialism that works for the working families of this country.
What I believe is that the American people deserve freedom true freedom. Freedom is an often used word but it's time we took a hard look at what that word actually means. Ask yourself: what does it actually mean to be free?
Are you truly free if you are unable to go to a doctor when you are sick, or face financial bankruptcy when you leave the hospital?
Are you truly free if you cannot afford the prescription drug you need to stay alive?
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