House Votes to Condemn Socialism and Democratic Socialists of America

All House Republicans along with eight House Democrats voted to adopt a congressional resolution formally denouncing socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on Tuesday.

The Bill: The non-binding resolution condemns and denounces "socialism in all its forms," stating that "socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has, time and time again, collapsed into communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships." Several specific examples are listed where "socialism has repeatedly led to famine and mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide." The resolution asserted that the "United States was founded on the belief in the sanctity of the individual, to which the collectivistic system of socialism in all its forms is fundamentally and necessarily opposed." The resolution also contained a measure which called for the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act. The resolution passed in a 220-192 vote.

Depressing: James Freeman, writing for Wall Street Journal Opinion (Lean Right bias) said "let's celebrate the brave few who signed their names and their sacred honor this week to an amendment that tells the truth about history's most murderous ideology." According to Freeman, "It's hard to find anything in this summary [a draft amendment written by supporting Democrats] of the last bloody century that a reasonable person would want changed except to replace the word 'capitalism' with 'free enterprise.'" Freeman asked, "When was the last time you wanted to copy and paste the text of congressional legislation—offered entirely by Democrats! —and email it to your children?" There are still "a brave few House members" willing to "stand tall against collectivist horror," adding that "it's depressing how few elected Democrats are willing to stand up against the vicious Marxists intent on taking over their party."

The S-Word: Opinion writer Ben Burgis for Jacobin (Left) said that "Congress Is Red-Baiting Like It's 1955." The "Anti-DSA Bill" is "rehearse[d] opposition to Stalinist authoritarianism" according to Burgis, while "the bill's real preoccupation is with socialists advocacy for expanded democracy." Burgis called the resolution's nominal argument "a mess," explaining that "The first two 'whereas' clauses are claims about the crimes of Stalinist regimes," and asserting that "democratic socialists have always been critical of such regimes." The "resoultion's strategy of lumping democratic socialists with authoritarian states is dramatically undercut by clauses about DSA's calls to expand voting rights, abolish the Senate, and enact ranked-choice voting to make it easier for third parties to compete" according to Burgis. He asserted that "Letting more people vote, making political representation proportional to the number of voters in each state, and expanding the options on Americans' ballots would take us much further from anything resembling an authoritarian one-party state." The bottom-line, according to Burgis, is that "The Republican-dominated Congress thinks that the mention of the S-word will inspire terror in the hearts of patriotic Americans, as though this were 1955."

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