“The purpose of a university should be to make a son as unlike his father as possible.” These radical words were spoken in 1909 by Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton, four years before he became the 28th president of the United States.
In 1916, education reformer John Dewey began articulating what we now call “social justice.” At the same time, Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist, emerged on the scene. He believed that spreading revolutionary ideology slowly and incrementally was most effective. He thought that over time enough people would be won over to Marxist thought. His approach eventually became known as the “long march through the institutions.”
In 1923, a group of professors known as the Frankfurt School came to prominence. These German Marxists—notably Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse—harbored a deep disdain for capitalism and traditional morals. Unfortunately, they did not remain in their homeland for long. 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, wokeism, and related movements, all of which have waxed and waned in our culture.
Now, the Democratic Socialists of America, which traces its origins to the early 1970s, is making a big splash. The group’s goals include:
eliminating the U.S. Senate, expanding the House of Representatives, and creating a multi-party system
providing free housing and healthcare for all
declaring free Palestine (i.e., eliminating Israel)
abolishing ICE
emptying prisons, thus releasing murderers and other hardened criminals
abolishing the Electoral College
establishing public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries to ensure democratic principles and accountability to the people (i.e., government control)
enacting aggressive taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations to fund public goods and infrastructure.
In June, the DSA’s top leadership convened the National Political Committee, the group’s governing body, for an in-person meeting. The result was “Workers Deserve More!,” a platform for the organization that features a host of radical proposals. Among other things, the document commits DSA to “abolishing the carceral forces of the capitalist state,” defunding the Department of War, granting amnesty to all immigrants, and “replacing the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.”
It must be noted that 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. Its proponents argue that this reduces inequality and promotes a fairer society.
Conversely, democracy promotes a free market and the freedom to accumulate wealth through market-based mechanisms, including the right to keep the fruits of one’s labor, individual rights, freedom of choice, and a system in which power is vested in the people through elections and decision-making processes.
Like all left-wing radical groups, the DSA has a “get ’em while they’re young” mentality, and, accordingly, the organization has indeed invaded our schools. According to Defending Education, publicly available information and documents show that DSA supporters have infiltrated every level of K-12 schools. From school board members to teachers’ unions and staff, individuals connected with DSA across the country are exploiting their positions to push politically charged and troubling content on children. 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.
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.”
In fact, a recent poll suggests that we are moving in that direction.
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 the government. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, and longtime Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are socialists.
In Congress, we have “The Squad,” initially composed of four members elected in the 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The group expanded to six after the 2020 elections, when newly elected Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri joined. Following the 2022 elections, the Squad grew to nine with the addition of Greg Casar of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, and Delia Ramirez of Illinois. (The only good news is that after the 2024 elections, the group was reduced to seven, as Bowman and Bush were defeated in their primaries.)
But now, The Washington Examiner reports that as of late June, “candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (federal and local) have won 35 primary elections so far this year, including upsets over entrenched incumbents.”
Perhaps the best words about socialism came from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” The quote is often used to criticize high-taxing, high-spending government policies. It emphasizes that state welfare systems rely on funding from individuals, a reliance that often proves unsustainable.
Nevertheless, the DSA is gaining popularity among many Americans. If this trend continues, our long-held freedoms will be imperiled, and our country could become just another failed socialist state.
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Larry Sand is a retired classroom teacher with 28 years of experience and served as president of the nonprofit California Teachers Empowerment Network from 2006 to 2025. He currently works to raise awareness of the shortcomings of our education system.
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“Conversely, democracy promotes a free market and the freedom to accumulate wealth through market-based mechanisms, including the right to keep the fruits of one’s labor, individual rights, freedom of choice, and a system in which power is vested in the people through elections and decision-making processes.”
No, that’s *Liberalism* you are describing, not “democracy”. Basic political science, Larry. Socialism is incompatible with *Liberalism*, not democracy. Socialist regimes have come to power through democratic elections. For example, Critical Race Theory is *anti-Liberal*, not anti-Democratic.
The proper contrast is between Liberal Democracy and Social Democracy. See https://OregonEd.info/liberal.pdf