The affordability crisis has become nearly impossible for Americans to ignore. A Harris poll conducted this summer found that 95 percent of U.S. adults believe the country is confronting one.
From housing and healthcare to higher education, childcare, groceries, utilities, travel and clothing, rising prices are straining household finances and making monthly budgets increasingly difficult to manage.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which describes itself as “the largest socialist organization in the United States,” is using that frustration to argue that free enterprise is the problem and that government-provided benefits are the answer.
Through its Workers Deserve More Program, the DSA says it wants to “create a democratic socialist republic.”
The organization’s conflict with the Democratic Party is central to understanding its ambitions. The DSA argues that Democrats have been “asleep at the wheel” as capitalism has failed. Its goal, however, is not simply to reshape the party from within; it seeks to replace or overthrow it.
That internal fight matters because the DSA is no longer a marginal faction of the far left. Its influence is increasingly visible in mainstream American politics.
The group is backing hundreds of candidates running on the Democratic ticket in the upcoming election, while DSA members already occupy hundreds of elected offices nationwide. The organization also has growing financial resources, political momentum and strong support among younger voters.
At its core, the Workers Deserve More Program brings together a sweeping collection of Marxist-inspired proposals. Critics dismiss the ideas as unrealistic promises that sound appealing largely because they would be extraordinarily difficult to deliver.
Among the proposals is a call to “establish paid family leave for all workers, a 32-hour work week with full pay and benefits.”
The platform also urges the government to “provide free, quality public education from pre-K to college and cancel all student debt.”
It further promises to “guarantee universal healthcare at no cost to individuals.”
On housing, the DSA wants to “build new, publicly-owned social housing” and “establish universal rent control.”
The program also calls to “enact reparations.”
Another proposal would “pass a federal jobs guarantee.”
The DSA is also advocating “massive investment in sustainable, publicly owned energy and transit infrastructure” while seeking to phase out fossil fuels.
Its platform additionally supports “establishing public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries.”
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To pay for its agenda, the organization proposes “aggressive wealth taxes.”
Despite the sweeping nature of these policies, the DSA’s affordability message is finding an audience among some Americans who are anxious about the cost of living and looking for more expansive government support.
The proposals appear to have less appeal among many blue-collar workers and people holding multiple jobs, who may question how policies such as a universal basic income for those who choose not to work would serve people already earning a living.
The ideas have found a more receptive audience among younger Americans. Critics argue that many have been taught in public schools to view capitalism as inherently harmful, collectivism as morally superior and prosperity as a zero-sum contest—while believing the country has enough billionaires to finance an expansive list of benefits if the wealthy simply paid more.
By no means am I saying that all of today’s youth are lazy, stupid socialist sympathizers.
But, as the data show, and my years of teaching social studies in public schools in Illinois and South Carolina demonstrated, America’s public education system is doing a poor job of teaching the truth about collectivism while framing free enterprise as inherently immoral and unfair.
Whereas political indoctrination mostly took place in colleges and universities decades ago, it has now seeped into some middle schools and most high schools.
Over the long term, this can be abated with state laws that mandate public schools to teach the truth about Marxism. Credit to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who began this very process years ago, when he signed a bill into law that requires public schools to “include comprehensive instruction of the full history and global impact of communism.”
In the meantime, it would be nice to hear clearly articulated arguments explaining how and why free enterprise generates societal well-being, prosperity, and personal dignity from leading figures of all political persuasions.
Understandably, Americans are frustrated with ever-rising costs. But they must be reminded that decades of government intervention in sectors like housing, healthcare, higher education, and many more, although well-intended perhaps, have created wildly skewed markets rife with corruption, capture, and cronyism.
Free enterprise is not the problem. “Free” stuff is not the answer. Free markets always have, and always will, produce the best solutions to social and economic problems because the magic, invisible hand unleashes dynamic human flourishing and outside-the-box innovations that can be summed up in one word: freedom.
Another way of looking at it is that an affordability crisis like we are currently experiencing pales in comparison to the affordability crisis that socialism would bring in the future.
In socialism, an affordability crisis means literal bread lines, rationing, and shortages.
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it’s spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there’s nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.
