has never been democratic Marxism that I'm aware of. It always has become a totalitarian state with a ruling party apparatchik.

I've got no love for the Bern, but I don't think you can say the same about Continental "socialist" or at least "more socialistic/nanny state" democracies like Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, etc. Oddly enough, most of those countries have better intergenerational mobility stats than we do. Very few in this country really do rise above poverty or fall below upper class status if that's where they are born. IMHO, our system is indeed rigged against the poor in many ways -- from inferior schools that lead to educational disadvantages, to debt traps, to healthcare access/medical bankruptcies, to nest eggs and investments we have an entire class who was born on third but likes to pretend they hit a triple and another that was born with two strikes and two outs and needs an incredible amount of luck and talent to pull themselves out. Saying anyone can be the next Tyson is like saying anyone who picks up a basketball can be the next LeBron James. It makes for a nice story, but it isn't true.

That's part of the issue although I'm not sure it's new.