Tom West: Flanagan ought to explain her differences with the DSA

A check of the membership rolls reveals that the DFL nominee for the U.S. Senate, Peggy Flanagan, is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). For that matter, neither is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who claims to be an 'Independent Democrat' who caucuses with Senate Democrats. The DSA has caused barrels of ink to be spilled this election season, ever since proud DSA member Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City. The hype for the DSA increased after Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate from Michigan. President Trump has called the DSA 'Communists', a term which they deny. What no one can question, however, is that it is a growing force in American politics. Membership is something that most extreme Left politicians, like Flanagan and El-Sayed, avoid. With few exceptions, only those politicians in safely liberal districts claim DSA membership. Wikipedia reports that in 2017, the DSA had 15 members in elective state and local offices. Every year since, the numbers have grown: 40 in 2018; 71 in 2019; 101 in 2020; 120 in 2022; 160 in 2023; 207 in 2024 and 250 in 2025. Since the United States has more than 496,000 elective offices, the DSA still has a way to go before it takes over. However, it has set its sights on where the real power lies — the Congress and the state houses. It still has only a few seats in Congress, but one of those is held by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congressional representative from New York City, whose name is being floated as a Democratic Party presidential nominee. Minnesota has several elected members. Not surprisingly, the DSA claims five members of the Minneapolis City Council as its own: Jason Chavez, Aurin Chowdhury, Aisha Chughtai, Soren Stevenson and Robin Wonsley. State senators Omar Fateh and Zaynab Mohamed of Minneapolis and Jen McEwen of Duluth as well as state Reps. Arthena Hollins of St. Paul, Liish Kozlowski of Duluth and Samantha Sencer-Mura of Minneapolis are among 73 DSA state legislators nationwide. So, what does the DSA stand for? Its platform is on the Internet and has 73 changes it wants to make to U.S. governance. The short answer is that the DSA wants to overturn the Constitution. Among its more bizarre positions are that it wants to abolish the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court with the latter two replaced by an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to an expanded House of Representatives. It would also defund the Department of War. It would 'fully abolish the police and prison system.' It would abolish ICE, legalize all migration and provide a path to citizenship for all residents, even non-citizens. Under the DSA plan, the government would take ownership of the largest corporations and oddly would also 'empower workers to come together and fight the boss' — which in such cases would be the government. It would establish 'free' health care for all individuals. It would end all military and economic aid to Israel, and end economic sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. No mention is made of what to do about expansionist leaders like Russia's Putin and China's Xi. To pay for its program, it would enact wealth taxes on the richest individuals and corporations. The ChatGPT artificial intelligence app, says there are 24 millionaires in the United States, approximately 1 in 11 adults. If you were to liquidate all the assets of every person with a net worth above 5 million and send those people to public housing and welfare, it would raise about $42.4 trillion, just enough to pay off the national debt — if it were done in the next year. Americans spend about $5.3 trillion annually on health care. To make health care 'free' to individuals, the government would have to tax somebody for that amount. More corporate taxes are one possibility. If one thinks about it for about 10 seconds, however, one will realize all business taxes are paid for by consumers. Taxes are part of the cost of doing business. Businesses are just pass-through collectors. Since the largest corporations would then be run by government bureaucrats, the chances of keeping them profitable would be greatly reduced, so it will have to collect more from individuals. Those millionaires with a net worth less than $5 million have total net worth of $37 trillion. Confiscate all their assets, send them to public housing and welfare, and the health care will be paid for the next seven years. Then, no one will be a millionaire, so the money will have to come from the middle class, if it still exists. Flanagan's non-membership does not make her immune from comparisons between her plans and the DSA's. She has been endorsed by or campaigned with several far Left extremists, including Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California U.S. Rep. and DSA member Ro Khanna and Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. Flanagan is ahead in the polls in part because so many Minnesotans are angry with President Trump. Since Trump will only be president for the first third of her Senate term, someone should ask her to explain exactly which parts of the DSA madness she supports. It might cause some Minnesotans to vote their self-interest instead of their emotion. Tom West is a former general manager and editor of the Morrison County Record. Reach him by email at: estwords.mcr@gmail.com