Why the Democrats Should Embrace the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA): Know the Systems
The Establishment/Corporate members of the Democratic Party are having an identity crisis of their own making. They claim to be a ”big tent” party, but are showing fear, ignorance, and vitriol against the Democratic Socialists of America, who are also Democrats. They hear/see the word “Socialists” and are freaking out by thinking that the DSA is the same as actual Marxist socialists. Establishment Dems such as Schumer and NY AG Tish James are claiming that the DSA will “destroy” the Democratic Party, instead of realizing that the DSA is with the Democrats, not against them. Their constituents in NYC, the largest city in the State of New York and in the country, are solidly behind Mayor Mamdani, who has already fulfilled the majority of his campaign promises in only six months.
The two most well-known DSA members in Congress, Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. AOC, always caucus with the Democrats.
In NYC in 2025, the Democrats preferred to support Andrew Cuomo, with all his legal and sexual assault baggage, rather than DSA member Zohran Mandami, who went from 1% in the polls in November 2024 to decisively winning the mayoral race in November 2025.
Neither Senator Chuck Schumer nor Rep. Hakeem Jeffries supported Mamdani’s candidacy, although Jeffries reluctantly gave his support in the last few days of Mamdani’s campaign, when it was clear Mamdani was going to win.
All over the country, from NYC to Washington, D.C. to Colorado to Oregon, DSA candidates are winning over establishment Dems, and they are winning for one main reason: people want change from the “old guard,” who, in 2024, caused us to lose the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.
Here in Michigan, the AIPAC-supported Senate candidate, Rep. Haley Stephens, is being supported by establishment Dems such as Senator Gary Peters, whose seat is now open, and Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina! With huge support from AIPAC, they are doing everything in their power to smear and defeat the progressive Democrat, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who is supported by Bernie and AOC, although he doesn’t identify as a member of the DSA.
Now, Trump and the Republicans are saying that Mamdani, Bernie, AOC, and all left-wing Democrats are “communists,” and Speaker Mike Johnson is spreading fear that lots of “mini-Mamdanis” will be popping up all over the country. Johnson is also demanding billions more of defense funding to “fight the rise of communism” in America. We haven’t had to fight “communism” in decades.
What the Republicans are counting on, and what the Democrats refuse to understand, is that there are big differences between capitalism, communism, fascism, Marxist socialism, and Democratic Socialism.
Those words are thrown around as if we all agree on what they mean: capitalism, communism, socialism, fascism, and democratic socialism. They get hurled in arguments, slapped onto policies we don’t like, and used to scare people away from ideas before they’ve even heard them out. And too often, we let the words do the thinking for us.
That’s a problem. Because you can’t make a real choice — about a candidate, a policy, a ballot measure, or just an argument at the family cookout — if you don’t actually know what you’re choosing between.
Capitalism is an economic system built on private ownership. Businesses, land, and resources belong to individuals and companies, not the government. Prices and wages move with supply and demand, and profit is the engine. It rewards competition and innovation — but it doesn’t guarantee the rewards land evenly, and history shows us who often gets left out of that equation.
Communism calls for property and production to be collectively owned or state-owned, with goods distributed according to need rather than by market forces. The goal, in theory, is a classless society. In practice, every nation that has called itself communist — the Soviet Union, Mao-era China — has paired that economic vision with centralized government control and a single ruling party.
Fascism is not primarily an economic system at all — it’s a political one, and an authoritarian one. Centralized dictatorial power, extreme nationalism, the crushing of dissent, and often a fusion of state and corporate interests under one leader’s control. It asks people to subordinate their individual rights to a manufactured idea of national unity. This is exactly what Trump and the MAGA Republicans are forcing upon us right now, and what all Democrats should be fighting against instead of fighting each other.
Marxist Socialism is an economic and political philosophy where the means of production and key resources are owned or regulated by the community or the state, aimed at narrowing inequality. It often demands full state control of industry.
Democratic Socialism seeks to hold two things at once: democratic institutions — free elections, civil liberties, multiple parties — alongside socialist economic policies, such as strong social safety nets, public investment, and worker protections. Think of the Nordic model. It is not one-party rule, and it is not without a market economy; it’s an attempt at balance between the two.
Here’s why this matters for us specifically. Our community has lived through the sharp edges of unregulated capitalism — redlining, wage theft, exclusion from wealth-building tools that others took for granted.
We have also watched authoritarian impulses, fascist and otherwise, target Black communities first when they come looking for someone to blame. We don’t have the luxury of treating these words as abstract. They’ve shaped our neighborhoods, our schools, our access to capital, and our safety.
Our Choice: That history is exactly why we can’t afford to let political vocabulary become a weapon of confusion instead of a tool of understanding. When someone calls a school lunch program “communism” or a tax cut “freedom,” ask them to define their terms. When a candidate promises to protect “the free market” or “the people,” ask what system they’re actually describing, and who it has historically served.
Don’t let some Democrats demonize other Democrats, and Democratic Socialists are Democrats in most of their values and practices. Don’t let the Democrats fool you into believing that they are your only choice.
Choice requires clarity. You cannot vote your values, argue your position, or organize your community around a word you haven’t unpacked. Know the systems. Know who is for America and who wants us to kowtow to another country. Then decide, with open eyes, which pieces of which systems actually serve justice, equity, and the people you love, not some distraction meant to divide.
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