A radical group tracing its origins to the 1970s just notched 35 primary election wins in 2026 — and their platform reads like a blueprint for dismantling America.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has candidates winning federal and local primaries across the country, according to The Washington Examiner, including upsets over entrenched incumbents. The group’s goals go far beyond traditional Democratic Party talking points.
The DSA platform includes:
- Eliminating the U.S. Senate and abolishing the Electoral College
- Emptying prisons — releasing murderers and other hardened criminals
- Abolishing ICE
- Declaring “free Palestine” (eliminating Israel)
- Replacing the president and Supreme Court with bodies “subordinate to Congress”
- Providing free housing and healthcare for all
- Public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries
- Aggressive taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations
In June, the DSA’s National Political Committee convened for an in-person meeting and released a platform titled “Workers Deserve More!” The document commits the organization to “abolishing the carceral forces of the capitalist state,” defunding the Department of War, granting amnesty to all immigrants, and restructuring the executive and judiciary.
“THE DSA PUSHES THESE TOPICS ON CHILDREN STARTING IN KINDERGARTEN.”
The group has invaded America’s schools. According to Defending Education, publicly available documents show DSA supporters have infiltrated every level of K-12 education — from school board members to teachers’ unions and classroom staff.
In classrooms, the DSA strives to indoctrinate children by teaching the importance of dismantling capitalism, advancing the Green New Deal, defunding law enforcement, implementing critical race theory, supporting gender surgery without parental consent, and promoting antisemitic ideologies. The DSA pushes these topics on children starting in kindergarten.
The effort goes back over a century.
In 1909, Woodrow Wilson — then president of Princeton, four years before he became the 28th president of the United States — declared: “The purpose of a university should be to make a son as unlike his father as possible.”
In 1916, education reformer John Dewey began articulating what we now call “social justice.” At the same time, Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist, promoted spreading revolutionary ideology slowly and incrementally — eventually known as the “long march through the institutions.”
In 1923, a group of German Marxists known as the Frankfurt School — notably Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse — harbored a deep disdain for capitalism and traditional morals. Adolph Hitler’s rise to power forced them to leave Germany, and they reemerged at Columbia University in New York City in 1935.
Most recently, the country has endured Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Critical Race Theory (CRT), Black Lives Matter (BLM), gender fluidity, and wokeism — all variations on the same long march.
Gen Z is falling for it.
A Cato Institute survey conducted in late June reveals that members of Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — hold mixed views of Communism, with 37% having a very or somewhat favorable view and 37% having a very or somewhat unfavorable view.
Some of the favorable ratings can certainly be attributed to the nation’s schools, which helps explain why so many young people are becoming involved with the DSA.
Socialists have also made their way into government. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, and longtime Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are socialists.
In Congress, “The Squad” — initially composed of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — expanded to nine members after the 2022 elections. Following the 2024 elections, the group was reduced to seven after Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush were defeated in their primaries.
The term “Democratic Socialism” is oxymoronic. Socialism and democracy can’t coexist because their principles and ideologies conflict.
Socialism advocates collective ownership and control of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. Conversely, democracy promotes a free market, individual rights, freedom of choice, and a system in which power is vested in the people through elections.
Importantly, socialism is typically not the far left’s final step. According to classical Marxist theory, socialism is a transitional phase between capitalism and communism. Socialism entails state control of the economy to redistribute wealth, whereas communism envisions a final “stateless and classless utopia” — or, more realistically, hell on earth.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” The quote emphasizes that state welfare systems rely on funding from individuals, a reliance that often proves unsustainable.
If the DSA’s rising popularity continues, America’s long-held freedoms will be imperiled — and the country could become just another failed socialist state.
