For most Latin Americans, the Democratic Socialists of America probably seems like a distant feature of domestic U.S. politics. That may be a mistake.

Aug. 12 (UPI) -- For most Latin Americans, the Democratic Socialists of America probably seems like a distant feature of domestic U.S. politics. That may be a mistake.

DSA has grown dramatically in recent years. On July 4, the organization announced that it had reached 120,000 members, an all-time high. It remains small compared with America's two major political parties. But its growing membership and electoral ambitions make it increasingly difficult to dismiss as marginal.

From Latin America, however, DSA is interesting for another reason. Many of the political and economic arguments now gaining traction on the American left sound remarkably familiar to those who have lived through similar debates for generations.

As a Chilean, I find this especially striking.

My country has spent more than half a century wrestling with questions about markets, equality, state power and the limits of political change. Chile has experienced profound ideological polarization, with attempts at rapid left-wing transformation and authoritarian rule from the right. More recently, Chileans have again debated how extensively the country's political and constitutional order should be remade.

There is no simple lesson from that history favoring either left or right. But there is a warning: democratic institutions can become fragile when politics turns into a struggle to reconstruct society according to an ideological blueprint.

That is why the American debate over democratic socialism deserves attention south of the Rio Grande.

DSA makes no secret of the scale of change it seeks. Its program calls for public ownership of major corporations and essential industries, greater democratic control over economic activity and aggressive taxation of wealth to finance public services.

Americans have every right to debate these proposals. The problems democratic socialists identify are real. Healthcare can be prohibitively expensive, housing increasingly unaffordable and economic insecurity widespread.

Latin Americans understand those concerns. But we have also learned that good intentions do not guarantee good institutions. Our region has repeatedly seen governments increase state power in the name of equality or social justice. Sometimes, greater government involvement produced legitimate reforms. At other times, economic and political power became dangerously intertwined.

The real question is not simply whether government should do more or less, but whether institutions remain strong enough to prevent any government from using economic power to reward allies, disadvantage opponents or weaken democratic restraints.

This is where DSA's interest in Latin America becomes particularly relevant. DSA does not limit itself to American domestic policy. Its International Committee identifies the organization as an associate member of the São Paulo Forum, the network of left-wing parties and political movements across Latin America and the Caribbean.

An American socialist organization seeking greater electoral influence at home is therefore also building relationships with political forces throughout our hemisphere. DSA appears to see its project not simply as an American debate about healthcare or taxation, but as part of a broader international movement.

Cuba provides another example.

DSA maintains a Cuba Solidarity Working Group and campaigns for an end to U.S. sanctions and the economic embargo. There are legitimate arguments against the embargo, and criticism of that policy is hardly confined to socialists. But Cuba cannot be understood only through Washington's policies toward Havana.

Cubans have lived for decades under a system that does not permit normal democratic competition for national political power.

The same standard applies throughout Latin America, where authoritarianism does not become acceptable merely because the government practicing it belongs to a favored ideological camp.

This is why DSA's growing influence deserves scrutiny. The organization does not control the Democratic Party, nor does the existence of 120,000 democratic socialists mean the United States is on the verge of becoming socialist.

American democracy has strong institutions, competing political traditions and an electorate that frequently defies ideological predictions. But political ideas that begin outside the mainstream do not necessarily remain there.

DSA speaks openly about building a mass socialist movement and expanding its electoral presence. If it succeeds even partially, its ideas could increasingly influence debates within one of America's two major political parties.

And what happens in Washington rarely remains in Washington.

For much of modern Latin American history, political and economic ideas have flowed southward from the United States. What makes the present moment unusual is that an American political movement is also reaching southward, building relationships with forces in Latin America while promoting ideas our region has already debated and sometimes rejected.

Our experience does not prove that every form of socialism leads to authoritarianism, any more than it proves that markets by themselves produce justice or stable democracy.

What it does teach is that societies should judge political movements not only by the attractiveness of their promises, but also by the institutions they create and the limits they place upon their own power.

Economic justice matters. Political freedom does too.

Americans will decide how large a role democratic socialism should play in their country's future. Latin Americans have reason to pay attention because the consequences will inevitably reach beyond U.S. borders.

And as Americans debate ideas that may seem new to them, they might find it useful to listen to a region that has been arguing about many of them for a very long time.

Osvaldo Silva is a Chilean journalist and communications specialist who serves as director of Legacy of the Americas, a hemispheric initiative promoting civic and ethical renewal. He holds a master's degree in neuromarketing from the University of La Frontera and a master's degree in psychology from Universidad Isabel I in Spain. The views expressed are solely those of the author.