A headline in The Hill captures a significant moment in American history: "Four socialist-backed candidates win Pennsylvania legislative primaries."

The Democratic Socialists of America supported all four candidates, who will almost certainly win in November, given their lack of GOP opponents.

The DSA itself thinks socialism's time has come:

The DSA hailed the legislative victories as a huge moment for the socialist movement. 

Arielle Cohen, co-chair of the Pittsburgh DSA chapter, told HuffPost that she feels a "monumental shift" after the victories, noting DSA's growing membership since President Trump's election.

"We won on popular demands that were deemed impossible.  We won on health care for all, we won on free education," she said.

"We're turning the state the right shade of red tonight," she added.

The "right shade of red" is due to a growing acceptance for socialism, especially among Millennials, and outright hostility and opposition to capitalism. 

A survey last year was shocking to some of us who vividly recall when naming a politician as a "socialist" was a kiss of death – an indication of a fringe candidate.

In the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation's "Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism," 58 percent of the up-and-coming generation opted for one of the three systems, compared to 42 percent who said they were in favor of capitalism.

The most popular socioeconomic order was socialism, with 44 percent support. Communism and fascism received 7 percent support each.

Marion Smith, executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said the report shows millennials are "increasingly turning away from capitalism and toward socialism and even communism as a viable alternative."

"This troubling turn highlights widespread historical illiteracy in American society regarding socialism and the systemic failure of our education system to teach students about the genocide, destruction, and misery caused by communism since the Bolshevik Revolution one hundred years ago," Mr. Smith said in a statement.

Millennials are more likely to prefer socialism and communism than the rest of the country.  Fifty-nine percent of all respondents chose capitalism as their preferred arrangement, compared to 34 percent who said socialism, 4 percent fascism and 3 percent communism.

Another survey from last year was even grimmer in its implications:

"The most alarming result, according to [George] Barna, was that four out of every ten adults say they prefer socialism to capitalism," the ACFI noted in its commentary on the poll.  "That is a large minority," Barna said, "and it includes a majority of the liberals – who will be pushing for a completely different economic model to dominate our nation.  That is the stuff of civil wars.  It ought to set off alarm bells among more traditionally-oriented leaders across the nation.'"  That 40 percent of Americans now prefer socialism to capitalism could spell major change to the policies advanced by legislators and political leaders and to the interpretations of judges ruling on the application of new and pre-existing laws.

How did this happen? The short answer is that the American people are ignorant of the dangers to human liberty posed by socialism and have been propagandized by our educational system, our culture, and our media to hate capitalism.  If you are told capitalism is evil for your entire life by teachers, movies, TV, and news media, you are going to believe that capitalism is evil. 

It isn't that Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, can necessarily win in 2020, or even get the Democratic nomination.  But as the Baby Boomers die and Millennials move into position of power and influence, socialism's rise as a fact of American life will not be denied. 

Will there be a civil war if the country goes socialist?  There will certainly be some kind of armed resistance, but if the socialist model holds, any legal opposition will be savagely stamped out.  The groundwork is being laid as we speak, as the very concept of free speech – opposition speech – is being more than demonized; it is being suppressed.

That the foolish cannot see this is not all their fault.  They have been brought up to think a certain way about America that highlights how evil we are rather than the great good that has been accomplished in freeing the human spirit.  That flame of liberty is certain to be extinguished by those who seek total control over our lives.

They will likely get it sooner than we can imagine.