The manifesto of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) presents a stark vision: “Imagine the end of capitalism.” This concept outlines a future free from landlords, personal debt, and mandatory work hours, where essential services like “food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation ... are common goods and utilities.”
Progressive discourse frequently employs the term “reimagining” when discussing significant transformations, from law enforcement and the Supreme Court to correctional facilities and national borders. However, as socialist ideologies gain prominence within the Democratic Party, these discussions are shifting from mere rhetorical exercises to concrete revolutionary proposals.
Examining the Democratic Socialists' Vision
The release of the DSA platform on July 14, Bastille Day, was particularly symbolic, given that the historical Jacobin movement championed a unicameral legislative system, a structure the socialists now advocate. The platform explicitly pledges to reform the existing constitutional framework and challenge the dominance of “the same criminal class of billionaires and war profiteers.”
Among its proposals, the DSA, which includes prominent figures such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, outlines plans to dismantle the Senate, the Supreme Court, the presidency, and other established institutions as part of its effort to reconstruct the American constitutional order.
In the book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution, the rise of socialism is explored, alongside the increasing willingness among academics and commentators to discard fundamental aspects, or even the entirety, of the nation’s constitutional system as the republic approaches its 250th anniversary.
The book draws comparisons between many contemporary proposals and policies implemented during the French Revolution by the Jacobin movement. It delves into the nature of revolutions and their potential to consume their instigators. Both the American and French revolutions unfolded during the same historical period; yet, one evolved into the world's longest-standing democracy, while the other descended into a brutal period known as “The Reign of Terror.”
Notably, the Jacobins also championed a unicameral system, a model now advocated by modern socialists. Historical figures such as Thomas Paine, who played a significant role in both revolutions, even supported such measures in pursuit of more direct democratic governance.
This approach was, however, explicitly rejected by the American Framers. Being keen students of history, they sought to avoid replicating elements that had led to the downfall of previous democracies, tracing back to ancient Athens. Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, famously described such unchecked democracies as devolving into “mobocracies.”
Calls for Constitutional Overhaul
The DSA is presented as a direct ideological successor to the Jacobins, aiming to dismantle moderating institutions and replace the President and Supreme Court justices with individuals democratically elected by a Congress composed solely of the House of Representatives. However, many of these suggestions also resonate with leading academics and influential public figures.
Similar to the original Jacobins, the primary proponents of these radical changes are not members of the working class but rather professors, commentators, and young, college-educated voters.
Mainstream legal scholars, such as Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of UC Berkeley Law School, have authored works like No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.
Such radical perspectives are readily amplified by the media. For instance, a column in a prominent national newspaper, titled “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,” featured academics Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale calling for the nation to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.”
Those who want to remain in favor often pander to the extremes. Radical leftist sites like the Jacobin have grown in popularity ... They use some of the same words and symbols but still seem improvisational and inauthentic, like a child’s game of dress-up with oversized outfits. Indeed, that is precisely the danger.
There is little knowledge, let alone memory, of what such radicalism became under the real Jacobins. There is the same blissful ignorance that allowed Rousseauian dilettantes to mutate into monsters, escalating radical agendas with every failure...As the popular slogans became disastrous policies, the momentum would carry them beyond any point of recognition or return. The new Jacobins show the same blind ambition and abandon in striking out at institutions and the Constitution itself.
These persuasive slogans are now appealing to vulnerable and impressionable audiences. Consider the recent remarks from Michaela Brangan, the DSA National Political Education Chair, who asserted that under socialism:
You are able to take a day off and not have to worry and you don't have to have a job just to pay the bills because you do not have a lot of bills. Right? Bills are no longer a thing because there's not for-profit businesses that are constantly trying to exploit you and trying, you know, to put you into debt.
She also expressed amusement at the question, “Why do we have a Senate? What is so great about the Senate?” To grasp the significance of such institutions, one might simply observe the contemporary calls to dismantle what stands as the world’s oldest and most enduring republic.
Defending Foundational Principles
One point on which she is correct is the fundamental role capitalism has played in the republic. This year marks not only the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence but also of the publication of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, a work eagerly embraced by the Founders. They firmly believed that true independence and freedom were unattainable without economic independence and freedom, thereby rejecting the economic dependency often promoted by some on the left.
The left has found a potent voice in the rhetoric of class warfare, championed by figures like Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. However, this is not a novel message; it echoes a familiar siren’s call that was resisted two and a half centuries ago. Thomas Paine himself, after experiencing the French Revolution firsthand, came to appreciate the structural safeguards implemented in the American system by Founding Father James Madison, which were conspicuously absent in the French model.
After the Jacobins implemented similar policies, they presided over economic collapse and a cycle of self-destruction marked by waves of executions. Once again, these same voices are urging a populace to dismantle what is arguably the most successful and stable democracy in history. Mainstream figures are increasingly preparing the public for radical transformations, often using subtle or coded language. For example, former Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed opposition to ideas like expanding the Supreme Court as mere “nostalgia” for a system she suggested was no longer functional.
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently echoed this sentiment, declaring that “nostalgia is not working,” and adding, “capitalism as we know it doesn't work either.”
It is not mere “nostalgia” that ties citizens to the constitutional system. It is a profound belief in a system founded on natural rights, designed to safeguard minority interests against the will of the majority. It is a system predicated on faith in both political and economic independence, embracing the principles of freedom and free markets that have historically fostered unparalleled prosperity.
These arguments have been heard before. It would be prudent to heed them seriously if the nation is to, as Benjamin Franklin famously implored, preserve this Republic for future generations.
