redbloodedamerica:

The Democratic Socialists of America

You already know Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the young and charismatic Democratic Party nominee and soon to be congresswoman from New York’s 14th District who defeated a member of the party’s congressional leadership in a stunning upset victory; but do you know the Democratic Socialists of America, a group Ocasio-Cortez belongs to that was vital to her insurgent campaign?  

The rapidly growing DSA now claims 40,000 members nationwide, up from just 5,000 two years ago, and millions more supporters. With several DSA politicians in state offices, Ocasio-Cortez’s victory could help this extreme left group gain a foothold in mainstream American politics.

But let’s clear something up.  The DSA’s socialism is not the social democracy found in Scandinavia.  In Denmark and Sweden, a large welfare state coexists with capitalist free market economies, which the Heritage Foundation ranks more free than even the United States.  The DSA system, however, looks a lot more like Venezuela, a nation that voted for socialism and where the people are now starving to death – and which ranks second-to-least free according to the Heritage Foundation, only after North Korea.

DSA leaders have been open about their support for this kind of socialism, better known as communism.  One leader in Portland, OR tweeted, “As a DSA co-chair I just wanna set the record straight for a minute: communism is good.”  Other DSA leaders have echoed that sentiment.  One current DSA member, Kurt Stand, was even convicted for conducting espionage on behalf of communist East Germany and the Soviet Union.  After he was released from prison, the DSA’s chapter in Washington D.C. appointed Stand to their Steering Committee even though he has never disavowed spying for America’s enemies.

Democratic socialism may not be identical to the Marxism-Lenism of the Soviet Union, but it is not far removed.  They support the same policies that led to poverty, starvation, and the restriction of freedom everywhere they have been tried.  The only difference is that the DSA wants to start the revolution using the ballot box instead of bombs.  DSA’s National Director Maria Svart made that clear: “We see our role now as shifting the Overton Window – shifting the acceptable discourse – while also organizing people and building concrete power with a politically aware grassroots base that understands who the enemy is.”  

If we want to bring prosperity, opportunity, and progress to everyone in America, especially our most vulnerable citizens, we cannot let the Democratic Socialists of America or Ocasio-Cortez make socialism acceptable discourse.