The Democratic Socialists of America believe that working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs rather than make profits for a few. They seek to replace capitalism with democratic socialism, advocating for core positions including: You decide if these few items would Make America Great…Again. Really. Universal Healthcare: Creating a single-payer, government-run "Medicare for All" system while eliminating private insurance. Public Welfare & Housing: Providing completely free child care, pre-K, and public higher education, alongside universal rent control and publicly owned housing. Labor Rights: Raising the minimum wage, strengthening labor unions, and instituting a 32-hour workweek without loss in pay. Taxing the Wealthy: Funding public programs through substantially higher income taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, paired with reductions in military spending. Public Ownership: Transitioning major industries, energy systems, and utilities out of private hands into public or democratic control. Criminal Justice Reform: Resisting police budget expansions and reducing the scope of the American penal and policing systems. If you think these are not good for America, to raise Americans’ standard of living, I’m calling you a Cheap Charlie. DSA's platform calls for reforms such as a Green New Deal, single-payer healthcare, and tuition-free higher education, with a long-term aim of social ownership and democratic control of the American economy. DSA's foreign policy is non-interventionist, strongly supporting spending cuts and footprint reductions to the U.S. military while also supporting pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist causes. Muchael Harrington, founder of DSA called it "The left wing of the possible". Let's face it. Republicans and Democrats are the same. They both just want to maintain the status quo with worn out policies. Neither of them are willing to try anything new. Because what we have obviously isn't working. Americans have been sold a bill of goods that were never delivered. DSA seeks to see America adopt the early humanistic, revolutionary sprit of Students for a Democratic Society in its Port Huron Statement, just as important in 2026 as it was in 1962. DSA was particularly active in the South African anti-apartheid movement, linking struggles for social justice abroad to those at home. DSA is equally active in opposing Palestinian apartheid as US foreign policy. DSA calls for a humane social order based on democratic planning and market mechanisms and for "economic democracy... from below, through a democratic transformation of the institutions of civil society”. Town meetings began in the early 1630s and relied on the adoption of consensus rather than voting. Isn’t it time we fired up participatory democracy so all Americans have a say? DSA has 120,000 active members, 220 local chapters nationwiwide and 250 elected to public office, proving mega PAC funding is not the only way to win elections. The yeast is rising. It also founded the Prison Moratorium Project in 1997 to oppose mass incarceration.In 1999, DSA activists participated in the anti-globalization protests surrounding that year's World Trade Organization conference in Seattle DSA's platform is "deeply feminist and antiracist".According to the organization's 2016 strategy document, democratic socialism "connects antiracist, feminist, LGBTQ, labor, anti-ableist, and anti-ageist movements to each other" because each struggle's success depends on the success of the others.For example, at its 2019 national convention, DSA passed a resolution calling for the full decriminalization of sex work. Ending mass incarceration: Abolish mandatory minimums and cash bail, demilitarize police departments, treat drug addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal one Feminism for All: Fight for freedom of all working class women. Universal childcare.Fair compensation for all work including care work. End gendered violence and end policies that restrict reproduction like abortion and along with restrictions on marriage and divorce. Finishing Reconstruction,fully honoring tribal sovereignty for native Americans. Housing for All: Establish universal rent control and a right to counsel for all tenants. Build more public housing and strictly regulate investment properties. Queer rights: End discrimination against LGBTQ people and gendered violence against gay and transgender people.Affirm rights to marry in any combination and to gender-affirming care. Abolish ICE: End ICE deportations and prosecute all federal ICE agents. Legalize migration and grant amnesty to immigrants regardless of status. End caps and quotas and provide a path to citizenship for all. Ending the US war machine: significantly reduce the U.S. military budget, close overseas military bases, and bring US troops home. Ending economic sanctions: End sanctions on countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. Free Palestine:and mutually acceptable boundaries free of Israel interference. Recognize the rights of Palestinian people, including the right of return. Recognize Jerusalem as the capital of a free Palestine. Prosecute US and Israeli leaders responsible for the Gaza genocide. DSA supports Palestinian rights, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military and economic aid to Israel. Over the months after the Gaza war began, various DSA chapters and DSA rank-and-file members and public officials organized and participated in protests and vigils alongside Jewish and Palestinian advocacy groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and Students for Justice in Palestine, in support of a ceasefire and Palestine. DSA supports Palestinian self-determination, backing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. Can you not see a world beyond capitalism? The tide is turning. SOURCES: The New York Times, Wikipedia, Anti Defamation League, Prison Moratorium Project, Democratic Socialists of America. Bob Dylan's 1964 song, The times they are a changin' expresses it best: Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin' And you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin' Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin' For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin' Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled The battle outside ragin' Will soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin' Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don't criticize What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin' Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin' The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is rapidly fadin' And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'
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