Members and acolytes of the Democratic Socialists of America are making inroads into the Democratic Party, so it’s useful to see what they stand for. They may not enact all these pledges, but they will try. Click on the screenshot below to see their recently published program.
No capitalism and NO BILLS!
But what if you want a different house from the one that the government gives you? Too bad! But who’s gonna pay for all those free houses, medicine, and transportation? I suspect they’ll just say “tax the rich,” the common DSA answer. But there’s not enough money there to begin to pay for all the stuff promised above.
And no more law enforcement. Eventually, everyone will be law-abiding!
There’s this of course; a major plank of the DSA is the elimination of Israel (and, not said explicitly) and of Jews as well. Invoking the “right of return” of all descendants of Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 would lead to the elimination of Israel. Not a word about the actual genocide of Hamas and the terrorism of the Palestinian Authority.
. . and here goes the separation of powers carefully confected by the Founders:
This comes pretty close to Communism:
And some cant:
To achieve this future, our class must organize. The Democratic Socialists of America is building a party whose goal is a democratic society of the working class. Our enemies are not just individual bosses, but the entire global system of capital; not just this or that cop, judge, or president, but the entire anti-democratic structure of our society. We are workers fighting to transform society: to win the battle for democracy, draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic.
DSA has written this program for ending capitalist oligarchy and creating a real democracy. Some of these demands may be won under our current system, but we know complete victory will require building a new society from the ground up. We push these demands to their furthest extent today, so we can fight for their fullest realization in a socialist future. Join us.
But is that real democracy. What if people don’t want to run the big corporations or get rid of capitalism?
I don’t usually quote the conservative op-eds of the WSJ, but a new editorial-board op-ed describes the unconstitutionality of the DSA program:
The left has long targeted the Electoral College because it thwarts the ability of the most populous states to dominate presidential elections. But in its latest manifesto, “Workers Deserve More,” the DSA says it wants to “replace the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.” It also wants to “abolish the Senate.” James Madison, call your office.
It’s important to understand how radical this is, essentially blowing up the Constitution’s separation of powers. Letting Congress choose the President means adopting the parliamentary system that prevails in Britain. It would essentially remove the presidential veto power that the Founders designed as a check on the legislative passions of the day.
Ditto for ending an independent judiciary, which is a check against legislative and executive violation of individual rights. Third World dictators seek to make the judiciary subservient to the ruling party for this reason, as they did in Venezuela, and as Mexico’s Morena party is now attempting to do.
The left loathes the Senate because it is also a restraint on temporary majorities. The Senate’s design, with two Members from each state, gives an equal voice to small and large states. This prevents dominance by California, New York and Texas. And it buttresses the federalist principles at the core of the Constitution’s design, which preserves certain powers to the states as a check on Washington, D.C.’s commandments.
The Senate’s six-year terms are another check on momentary House majorities elected every two years. The Founders’ original design that Senators be elected by state legislatures has given way to direct election. But the 60-vote filibuster rule has developed as an alternative check on radical change by narrow majorities.
Article V of the Constitution says “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.” This means the Senate couldn’t be abolished without the consent of every state, assuming the DSA doesn’t ignore the Constitution, as some on the left might want to do.
. . . . The common denominator in all of these DSA proposals is eliminating barriers to rapid, radical change. The socialists want a single-branch legislature that can sweep into power in a single election, dominate the President, and neuter the judiciary as a check on that power. With those checks gone, they can impose their agenda that will be nearly impossible to undo.
The job of Republicans now, and Democrats who have the guts, is to educate the country about this agenda. Not by doing what President Trump does and call them “communists.” That general attack won’t resonate with young people who don’t know what communism is.
Well, read the platform and get yourself educated. Sadly, young people may still learn what communism is, but they also have to study history to see how it worked out. They can’t do that on their phones.
Thank you, PCC(E) – and, bolded :
“And some cant”
^^^accurate.
On more than one occasion I have been in debates with some self-proclaimed socialist who insists that calling the DSA “Communist” is some kind of libel. So I go to the DSA home page and show them the DSA’s own words. Suddenly they have nothing to say.
It’s good to see that the Press is actually reporting on this. They need to do go deeper, though, and start asking real questions like “Why?” Why abolish the Supreme Court? And they need to ask, “And then what?” Once the Supreme Court is abolished, how will the appeals process work? What is there are conflicts in rulings in lower courts, how will those be resolved? And why abolish the Presidency? How will executive functions be managed? We’re starting to hear what the DSA doesn’t like; it’s time to hear what they would like. Like their predecessors, I suspect that they would be better at destruction than creation, and probably have no real plans for how to govern. Single-chamber legislatures have a very poor track record at governing.
This is delusional. As E.O. Wilson (expert in eusocial insects) remarked: “Nice idea; wrong species”. There is this thing called “human nature” that the DSA completely fail to factor in.
If people don’t need to work (or if working makes no difference to their standard of living) then they simply won’t. Obviously!
So everything is centrally funded, but who is doing the work or paying the taxes to fund everything? No-one.
OK, so you “soak the rich”. But, firstly, there aren’t enough rich people to soak (seriously, even if you confiscate all their wealth it doesn’t get you far).
And, if the rich cannot “exploit the workers” (aka, offering a fair wage for a fair day’s work) because no-one needs to work since all their needs are met, then the rich won’t be rich, and so can’t be soaked.
The whole thing is based on the delusion that people will spend their lives working hard at jobs just for the warm and fuzzies of helping society. Only an idiot with no clue about human nature would think that this will work in practice.
Fidel Castro used to say that Cuban socialist democracy was so pure, so direct, that it had no need for cumbersome formalities such as voting. The true will of the people rose up spontaneously through the incorruptible spirit of the people’s guardian, Fidel.