Carte Blanche: The Democratic Socialists of America are right, it’s time for change
“The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery.”
Sir Winston Churchill
The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the world. That is not a title that can be easily claimed in the political world, where change and the rise and fall of ideology are the law of the land. However, Democratic primary elections in congressional races in New York and Colorado signal an impending challenge to the party's status quo. As new and younger candidates have shown, there's a growing hunger for something radical and an appetite for challenging the status quo. After decades of both parties managing the nation's slow decline and neither able to muster enough support to pass any fundamental changes to the government or the Constitution, the discontent with such failures and the parties' willingness to accept them is proving deeply upsetting to younger voters. For well over a century, the nation has been led by one of two parties that switch control almost routinely. Neither side has kept its promises to its voters. Instead, a corporate and fundraising mindset has dominated political culture, which has at long last come to a head. The DSA is right to challenge the party that has long ignored or paid lip service to voters who want real change and to see some results from the party leaders who have been so diligently reelected and well funded with the hard-earned cash of their supporters.
Since taking office, there doesn’t seem to be a campaign promise President Trump hasn’t broken, with the exception of securing the border. However, the war in Iran has contributed to rising prices in a time when Americans were already struggling more than the past generation just to stay afloat. Combined with both the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Voting Rights Act, the political heat in the nation has only turned up as division threatens people in every walk of life across the nation. The cost of nothing significant has gone down, and young voters, especially, are growing tired of the brinksmanship that Republicans and Democrats alike have made their business standard. Over 87% of Americans see the government as broken. It is rare to find something so overwhelmingly agreed upon, but there are a few more issues that seem to be bipartisan among voters. These include the need for term limits, dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates, and an exhaustion with partisan fighting instead of focusing on the issues. If anything is clear, it is that the political establishment is too comfortable with ignoring its base and the American people as a whole. The DSA is just the first sign of what is likely to come if things continue as they are.
Darializa Avila Chevalier recently won the Democratic primary in New York's 13th Congressional District. Her platform as a Democratic Socialist was one based on abolishing ICE, ending aid to Israel, and Medicare for all, on top of other government guarantees and programs. She won overwhelmingly, in a deeply blue state and in a city like New York, and will most likely be elected to Congress. The wave of DSA candidates surging in support is deeply disturbing to the Democratic Party. Elections in Maryland and Colorado, Democratic strongholds, have seen more DSA members win primaries. A civil war in the Democratic Party is something unseemly for a generation, and never so blatantly and publicly encouraged by members of the party. As more members of the DSA secure nominations and gather support from frustrated, energetic young supporters, the more likely it is that the Democratic Party's leadership will overreact and attempt to clamp down on them. A schism could soon ensue, rupturing the party, creating a much-needed new political party, and breaking the two-party system's monopoly. The course of events that will unfold is the inevitable result of three presidential campaigns that left the voters out in the cold when it came to picking a nominee. For over a decade, party insiders have decided who would represent the party when election time. Now they are reaping the results of such self-righteous behavior.
The Democratic Socialists of America Platform is rooted in both fantasy and frustration. It is also exceedingly dangerous to the nation and the American people with its proposed policies. From granting non-citizens the right to vote, to eliminating borders and property rights, and abolishing the police, the list is one that is eager to destroy what has been centuries in the making and better than what came before it. A senior party leader, David Jenkins, boasted that the party's end goal is Communism. History is filled with volumes on what happens when a nation is subjected to such extremes of government power and party ideology above all else. When the infighting finally comes to a close, if they are able to gain power, the nation would suffer every degradation possible while party insiders lived like the billionaires and oligarchs they claimed to hate. Whatever policy or plan they would champion would become more sacred than any religious text or relic, and the penalty for disagreeing would be gulags somewhere in the vastness of Alaska or the Mojave Desert. The young of the nation are tired of empty promises and the hardships forced upon them by a political class that has more in common with their grandparents than with them, including their wealth and expectations of privilege. It is a dangerous combination that can lead to what has been seen from Europe to South America, and the graves of those who thought it wasn’t worth worrying about still mark the way.
The DSA is right about one thing: America needs new parties and new leaders who actually care about the issues of our time, and not virtue signaling or self-enrichment. The people of the nation have given too much, only to receive broken promises and an impossibly expensive life in return. It’s time for change, and it’s time for those who refuse to do anything to step aside, but it will never be the right moment or the right answer to burn it all down for ideas that only enshrine greed and vengeance.