After reading the official platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, I am convinced that they should rename themselves the Deranged Socialists of America. The platform represents the specific policy proposals of the organization, and it reads like a list of inane and immature ideas. My only thought is that a bunch of these folks were sitting around, listing good ideas on one board and horrendous ones on the other and mistakenly handed in the wrong list. It is the only logical explanation. This document might make sense if it had been written by a group of 9-year-olds. The fact that anyone takes DSA seriously is the strongest condemnation of today’s politics.
DSA explicitly rejects American democracy, institutions and our constitutional structure. Its stated goal is to transform America fundamentally into a democratic socialist republic. Perhaps the most striking feature of the platform is its explicit rejection of the Constitution. (Quick question — how does a DSA candidate taking the oath of office swear allegiance to the Constitution when they explicitly reject it? Just curious.) DSA calls for eliminating the Senate, replacing the presidency with an executive subordinate to the House of Representatives and eliminating the Supreme Court and replacing it with a judiciary also subordinate to the House of Representatives (You read all of that correctly). In essence, DSA explicitly rejects America’s separation of powers and independent judiciary. Absolute lunacy unless you prefer tyranny of the majority and a move toward communistic dictatorship. The framers intentionally divided authority among competing branches because they feared this very concentration of power. DSA’s proposals remove many of the structural barriers designed to prevent majoritarian excess, which is exactly what these folks seek. But wait. There’s more.
Democratic socialists next call for abolishing prisons entirely. (Another question — where do murderers, rapists, robbers, etc., go? Just curious.) DSA seeks to eliminate prisons, so they also see no need for police officers. So DSA’s next proposal is the complete elimination of all police officers (Another question — when someone murders or rapes another person, who investigates the crime and brings the criminal to justice? Just curious.) DSA next goes after immigration enforcement and supports completely opening the border and doing away with all immigration officers.
Let’s take stock of what you just read. The Democratic Socialists of America, with a straight face, propose eliminating the presidency, the Senate, our independent judiciary, the Supreme Court, all prisons, all police officers, the nation’s borders and all immigration laws and enforcement. A few of their members have actually won Democratic primaries for Congress, which goes under the category of “You have got to be kidding!”
The democratic socialists propose expanding the vote to all permanent residents and convicted criminals (I guess since DSA eliminated prisons, they figure murderers on the loose can surely take time out from committing more crimes to exercise their democratic right to vote). Assuming DSA cannot eliminate all prisons, they propose that all incarcerated individuals are given the right to vote. That’s right. DSA believes that individuals serving life sentences for first-degree murder and first-degree rape should have the right to vote.
The Democratic Socialists of America also proposes eliminating the Department of Defense. You read that correctly. DSA proposes shutting down the Pentagon. (Another question — who will defend the nation if we are attacked by another nation or terrorists? Just curious.) And of course, these antisemitic bigots explicitly go after Israel and the Jews, the favorite targets of the far left. DSA proposes closing all overseas military bases and gutting the entire military (DSA’s friends in Russia, North Korea and Iran are particularly excited about this specific proposal). And they propose ending all sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela and Iran, so that their like-minded comrades can just keep on terrorizing their populations.
DSA calls for a government takeover of all major corporations and industries. Official DSA materials specifically identify the energy and transportation sectors as examples of where government will simply take all private corporations for its own. The nation’s largest corporations (undisclosed as to which ones) will immediately be placed under government ownership according to DSA, and the government will own all key sectors of the economy (I am pretty sure that is called communism — or dictatorship if you prefer). DSA further proposes eliminating private ownership of housing and eliminating landlord/tenant law. There’s more, but you get the picture.
This would all sound completely ridiculous and amusing if some of these DSA candidates weren’t actually winning elections. One of their members, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is actually mentioned as a leading contender for the presidency (one last question — can we really have a candidate for president belonging to a group that wants to abolish the presidency itself? Too little time to explore that one). Sen. Bernie Sanders embraces their candidates. Sen. Elizabeth Warren does the same. Maryland’s resident unprincipled Sen. Chris Van Hollen gushes over these candidates in the name of the Democratic Party’s big tent (and his own ambitions).
The Democratic Socialists of America were a bizarre sideshow that is now officially dangerous. Their strategy is to leach onto the Democratic Party, using low-turnout primaries to gain a foothold. Their success should serve as a dire warning that our very institutions of democracy are no longer safe. Democrats point to President Donald Trump’s disdain for democratic institutions, and they aren’t wrong. But Trump will be president for only two more years. The institutions have held up during his presidency. The far, far more dangerous threat to our democracy lies in the Democratic Socialists of America and the Democratic Party’s gutless appeasement of these communist radicals. DSA, and its disturbing policy prescriptions and candidates, should be roundly condemned for what they are — anti-democratic. We need principled leaders from both parties to call out the extremes in their ranks. And Democrats need to denounce these leaches from DSA who are sucking the lifeblood out of a once-proud party.
Bobby Zirkin is a columnist at The Baltimore Sun and a partner at Zirkin and Schmerling Law in Baltimore. He represented Baltimore County in the General Assembly for 21 years as a Democratic state senator and delegate. He can be reached at bz@zandslaw.com.
