The Democratic Socialists of America have released a sweeping policy platform that would abolish the U.S. Senate, dismantle Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and defund the military, and not one DSA-affiliated elected official has publicly distanced themselves from it.
The 120,000-member organization published its "Workers Deserve More" platform on July 14, laying out a vision for American governance that reads less like a policy agenda and more like a constitutional demolition plan. The platform spans three sections, "Thriving Working-Class Communities," "Working-Class Foreign Policy," and "Working-Class Democracy", and proposes upending virtually every major institution the federal government operates, from Congress to the courts to the armed forces.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson responded on X with a blunt assessment. USA TODAY reported Johnson called the platform "communism" by "barbarians" and posted:
"This isn't just Common Sense vs. Crazy anymore. It's Common Sense vs. COMMUNISM."
That language is sharp. But a close look at what the DSA actually proposes makes it hard to argue Johnson overstated the case.
The platform's "Working-Class Democracy" section calls for eliminating the U.S. Senate entirely. DSA co-chair Megan Romer defended the proposal in a FOX News interview, calling the Senate an "anachronistic institution" that "comes from the British House of Lords." She said it was created to "protect power" and ensure "the people didn't have too much of a say."
Beyond abolishing the upper chamber, the platform would scrap the Electoral College and hand Congress the power to elect both the president and the Supreme Court. It calls for expanding the House of Representatives, though the DSA does not specify to how many members, and replacing the two-party system with a "multi-party democracy" using ranked-choice voting in all elections. The platform also demands statehood for Washington, D.C., self-determination for U.S. territories including Puerto Rico and Guam, voting rights for all permanent residents regardless of citizenship status, and restored voting rights for individuals with criminal convictions.
In plain terms, the DSA wants to restructure every branch of the federal government, rewrite the rules for who votes and how votes count, and strip the constitutional architecture that has governed the republic since 1789.
The foreign policy section is no less ambitious. Under a heading the DSA calls "End the U.S. War Machine," the platform proposes defunding what it calls the "Department of War", a term whose relationship to the actual Department of Defense is unclear, as USA TODAY noted the proposal's scope is ambiguous. When asked on FOX News whether the section calls for defunding the Pentagon, Romer answered "absolutely."
The platform would close all overseas U.S. military bases and prosecute American war criminals in line with the International Criminal Court. It calls for ending blockades, embargoes, and sanctions, naming those targeting Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela specifically.
On immigration, the DSA calls for abolishing ICE, ending all deportations and ICE detention, and creating a path to citizenship for all immigrants regardless of status. On the Middle East, a section labeled "Free Palestine" demands an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel and calls for prosecuting U.S. and Israeli leaders for what the platform terms "genocide in Gaza", a characterization the DSA presents as settled fact.
The platform's vision for foreign policy amounts to unilateral American disarmament, open borders, and the prosecution of U.S. military and political leaders in international courts. That is not a fringe newsletter. It is the official platform of an organization with members serving in Congress and running for new House seats.
Domestically, "Workers Deserve More" promises a world without financial obligation. The platform's own website paints the picture plainly:
"You have no debt. You don't need health insurance. You don't pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right."
The "Thriving Working-Class Communities" section bundles health care for all, housing for all, the Green New Deal, 32-hour work weeks, paid family leave, free education, and a livable minimum wage. It calls for making large corporations public, implementing "aggressive wealth taxes," and empowering workers to unionize. The platform would also rid the political system of lobbyists and "dark money."
On law enforcement, the DSA goes further than "defund the police." Its "End Mass Incarceration and Police Immunity" section would "demilitarize" police departments, "empower civilian oversight bodies," and ultimately abolish police departments and the prison system altogether. A separate section titled "Finish Reconstruction" calls for honoring tribal treaties, enacting reparations, and ending what the platform describes as "the legacies of slavery and colonialism." Another section, "Feminism for All," demands an end to restrictions on abortion, contraception, and transgender medical procedures, and calls for "queer liberation."
None of this is hidden. The platform sits on the DSA's public website. And yet the elected officials most closely tied to the organization have refused to say whether they support it.
USA TODAY reached out to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, all DSA members. None responded. Three DSA-affiliated Democratic nominees for U.S. House seats, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York, and Melat Kiros in Colorado, were also contacted. Kiros and Avila Chevalier did not respond. Valdez's campaign office declined to comment.
That silence is worth noting. These are not obscure activists. Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most prominent members of Congress. Mamdani runs the largest city in the country. Tlaib has served multiple terms representing a Michigan district. If they disagree with abolishing the Senate, defunding the military, ending all deportations, and dismantling the police, they have had weeks to say so. The platform dropped July 14. As of early August, not one has drawn a line.
Two members previously endorsed by the DSA, Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, no longer identify as DSA members. The timing and reasons for their departures are not specified, but the distance they have put between themselves and the organization is itself a signal about where the DSA has landed.
Polling suggests the DSA's influence extends well beyond its membership rolls. A CNN poll published July 30 found that a third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists. At the same time, a Reuters/Ipsos survey published July 28 found that 47 percent of Americans say they do not understand democratic socialist policies.
That gap matters. A significant share of the Democratic base claims the label, but nearly half the country cannot define what it stands for. The "Workers Deserve More" platform answers that question with striking clarity: abolish the Senate, defund the military, end deportations, dissolve police departments, eliminate prisons, nationalize corporations, prosecute American leaders in international courts, and grant citizenship to every illegal immigrant in the country.
The DSA's own website frames this as a vision for "American social democracy." But the platform reads as a wholesale rejection of constitutional self-governance, national defense, border enforcement, and the rule of law. President Trump and Republican allies have taken to calling democratic socialists "communists." The DSA's own document does not make that characterization easy to dismiss.
And the elected officials who carry the DSA's endorsement have chosen, so far, to say nothing at all.
When the platform speaks for itself this clearly, silence from its members is not neutrality. It is consent.
