SACRAMENTO — It’s 7 a.m. on Thursday, the sun is out and I’m stuck at my desk staring down a long day of work rather than, say, sleeping until 11 and spending the day kibbitzing at a coffee shop. Instead of enjoying my comfy house, purring cat, quick internet connection and full belly, I’m fantasizing about what life should really be like. I am, as the Democratic Socialists of America program explains, imagining “a future without capitalism.”
According to DSA, that world would be groovy. Admittedly, the group’s first promise is confusing: “You enjoy your work; it’s interesting to you, and you’re well trained for it.” In this capitalistic hell-scape, I do in fact enjoy my work, find it interesting and am trained for it. But then the DSAers offer this sweetener: “You work as much as you are able and no more than needed.” I need a chat with my boss, as he unfairly insists that I work as much as needed to complete the tasks for which I’m paid.
Still, working only when I feel like it would be a plus. So would DSA’s next promise: “You have no debt. You don’t need health insurance. You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right. Your retirement is publicly funded.” That sounds great, as everything would be mine by right and for free. (Without a landlord, who is going to fix the broken toilet, but I’m picking nits.)
However, being a highly trained policy wonk, I’ve written about healthcare, housing and public-pension debt. Money doesn’t fall from the sky. Big programs are funded from taxes on productive labor that bosses are willing to pay for. Government healthcare and pensions always are awash in debt. If the past is a guide, government-provided housing is more Cabrini-Green and less Newport Coast. There wouldn’t be enough money on the planet to fund this post-capitalist daydream.
But I suppress such tawdry thoughts given the fun I’ll have once the DSA agenda is in place. Instead of churning out copy, I could play sports and meet with friends for dinner. I could spend my time as I choose “without worrying about cost or dreading going back to work.” To get there, we simply need to elect leaders who have the foresight to “build a new society from the ground up.” Presumably those leaders will not have spent any time reading about nations that have tried to build utopias, but I digress. Google “bread lines,” just for fun.
Seriously, this platform could be chalked up to something emanating from an 8-year-old, except democratic socialism is surging among U.S. voting-age adults. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “[T]he Democratic Socialists of America now counts more than 120,000 members. Its recent primary wins are stirring panic among mainstream Democrats….” DSA leaders “view the Democratic Party less as a partner than a hostile takeover target.”
Many DSA candidates are somewhat careful about how they position themselves on the issues (no sense scaring anyone), but virtually all DSA candidates blather about billionaires and propose government takeovers and new programs. The DSA promises it “leaves behind authoritarian visions of socialism in the dustbin of history,” but it’s hard to believe this new vision will lead to a better place.
Granted, some DSA ideas are simply wasteful and silly, such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to create government-run grocery stores, which will surely be as well stocked and enticing as the ones in the former Soviet Union, or similar to Pennsylvania’s dismal state-run liquor store monopoly. (As economist Milton Friedman said, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”)
If the DSA does to the Democratic Party what MAGA has done to the Republican Party, we won’t have any major party even slightly committed to limited government. I’ve long predicted that the rise in MAGA-style populism, which is increasingly hostile to free markets, would ultimately energize a left-wing counter push. Are we taking the Latin American path, where elections vacillate between far-left authoritarians and far-right ones? We better hope not.
A public-opinion survey last year found 62% of people aged 18-29 hold a favorable view of socialism. A survey last week found Americans would reject a democratic socialist presidential candidate, 55% to 39%, but three-quarters of Democrats would be open to one. The Washington Post explains the term can be nebulous, as DSA “members hold a variety of left-leaning political views that range from support for Nordic-style social welfare programs to a staunch belief in communism.”
It’s nevertheless cause for alarm that so many Americans are willing to envision a future without capitalism. Only in a capitalist world can we live free and prosperous lives — even if it means that we all have to show up to work on time.
Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute and a member of the Southern California News Group Editorial Board. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.