Steve Walden's Blog

WARNING: If your reasons for supporting, or NOT supporting, the proposed healthcare bill are purely political, that is to say, you do not care what’s in it, you will support it no matter what based on your support, or lack of support for those presenting the bill, then DO NOT continue to read this.

I have been listen to all the pundits on this thing and had pretty much made up my mind that I DID NOT support this bill. Then I realized that I was just being a zombie myself because I had not actually read the darn thing. So, I took some time and sat down to read the bill. If any of you are interested in what is in the bill, you can find copies of it here: http://www.defendyourhealthcare.us/houseandsenatebills.html

So, I started reading the bill and on page 16 I found a section titled “Protecting the choice to keep current coverage” and I thought, hey that sounds like President Obama was telling the truth about being able to keep my current coverage. Maybe I was too quick to judge him based on my own political ideology, SHAME ON ME! So, I started to read that section of the bill and quickly realized that I was NOT wrong to judge him and he IS lying to me and all of us, SHAME ON HIM. You see, anyone who currently has healthcare insurance, that insurance will be “Grandfathered” in, in so long as the provider of said insurance meets some requirements. The first requirement reads like this: “(1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT. (A) In General. – Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.”

So basically, we can keep our coverage so long as Blue Cross / Blue Shield does not enroll any new members on or after the first day that this bill becomes law. So yes, TECHNICALLY we will get to keep our health coverage as long as BC/BS does not take on any new members. How long do you think it will take before they go out of business? Oh and when they go out of business, we can’t just go get insurance from another provider because they are not allowed to take on any new members either.

And if that is not enough to put any insurance company out of business then I am sure that section 123 will be the final nail in the coffin of any of the survivors. Basically Sec 123 establishes a “Health Benefits Advisory Committee” who will determine what MUST be covered by the insurance company. This committee will consist of The Surgeon General (who will act as the chair), 9 members who are NOT federal employees or officers and who are appointed by the President. 9 Members who ARE federal employees and who are appointed by the Comptroller General in the same manner as the CG appoints members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. And finally, such even number of members (not to exceed 8) who are federal employees and officers, as the President may appoint. Now I see how we are going to solve the unemployment problem, everyone will just work for the President.

Friends, put your politics aside and read this bill. This bill will affect us all and our families for generations to come. Do what those we elect to represent us will not do and READ THE BILL!

Short answer, do what our government is doing now.  Please allow me to expound and please bear with me as I will, most likely, cover a lot of ground.

Our Obituary will read “R.I.P. USA, Died in it’s sleep”

We need to wake up NOW before it’s too late!

Let’s start with Cap & Trade.  Okay, our house just, very narrowly, passed a cap & trade bill.  What is the government stated purpose of this bill?  Well, the purpose, as stated by the government, is to reduce the United States production of “Greenhouse gases.” in particular, CO2.  First, you have to believe that CO2 is a significant contributor to the “Greenhouse” effect.  I know that President Obama has stated that “the debate is over” as have many on that side however, the debate is far from over.  The science is far from settled.  As proof, I offer this link to the Oregon Petition, singed by over 31,000 scientist: http://www.oism.org/pproject/.  This Petition asserts that there are no credible scientific facts that show that an increase in CO2 will harm the environment but will instead actually benefit the natural plant and animal environments of the earth.  I encourage everyone to read the petition.

How will this destroy the United States?  Simple.  This plan will, by design, drive up the cost of energy for all Americans, in EVERY aspect of our lives.  It will drive up the cost of EVERYTHING we consume.  Remember what the final breaking point in our economy was?  Didn’t our economy really start to falter when gas prices hit $4 a gallon and people had to decide between putting gas in the car that got them to work or paying their mortgage?  Granted most of those folks should not have had a mortgage but that is for another blog.  So, the cost of gas going up affected several aspects of our lives.  It drove up the cost of a lot of goods because of the increased cost of producing and transporting those goods due to higher gas prices.  Now, in the mist of the greatest economic downturn since the great depression, our President, along with the Democratic leaders in the house and senate, want to pass a bill which will drive up, not just the cost of gas, but the cost of EVERY mainstream form of energy that we use today.  Their goal is to destroy energy companies in this world.  Does President Obama understand that his plan will cause the average Americans energy bill to skyrocket?  Yes he does and he says so in this video: 

The Presidents goal is to bankrupt the coal industry.  Now, we have the largest supply of coal in the world and, as the President is aware, 50% of the electricity in this country comes from coal.  Here is another clip from the same video above with his statement about bankrupting coal plants:

So, under the Presidents plan we shut down coal plants which destroys hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs and we replace them with “green energy.”  Sounds great, has anyone ever tried it?  Why yes they have!  Has it been successful?  Not so much.  Let’s look at one prime example in Spain where, for every 1 green job created, 2.2 jobs in other energy sectors was lost.  Not to mention the BILLIONS of $’s lost as the government subsidized these programs.  As the President is fond of saying “Let me be clear,” while of course being anything but clear, Let me be clear.  This program has NOTHING to do with curbing greenhouse gas emissions.  This bill has NOTHING to do with stopping global warming (most scientist agree that Global Warming has currently stopped on its own and has been flat since 2001 despite our increasing production of CO2).  You see, politicians can’t call this bill what it really is because the American people would revolt but I well tell you what it really is.  This bill is nothing less than the largest invasion on individual liberty in the History of our country or probably in the history of the world!  What people do not understand is that the government wants to control every aspect of your life.  The government wants to control the kind of car you can drive, the temperature that you set in your home, the kind and amount of food you can eat, the type of material that can be used to make the clothes that your wear.  I know some reading this will say that I have gone too far now and that I am just talking crazy.  Well, have you seen all the commercials for GEs Smart grid technology?  Do you know that it is?  Let me explain.  Let’s say that right now you set your thermostat to 72 degrees but your neighbor sets his thermostat to 74 degrees (in the summer time).  Of course, you can expect to pay a bit more because you are cooling your house more.  As it stands now, the power company has no idea what you set your thermostat to, they only know how many kilowatt hours of electricity you have used.  With smart grid, we will have all special digital thermostats that not only allow us to set our temperature but also report what we have set out temperatures to.  So, let’s say that the government decides to “advise” us to set our thermostats to 74 in the summer.  So, let’s say you pay 4 cents per kilowatt hr.  With smart grid they will monitor your thermostat settings and if you are at the government recommended setting then you pay only 4 cents but, if you like it a bit cooler and you drop yours to 72 degrees then they will see that and you will be now be charged 8 cents per kilowatt hr.  All of this is done of course, at least according to the government, to help you make better energy decisions.  Now, before smart grid you were already going to pay a higher price than your neighbor because you like it cooler.  With smart grid, you will not only pay more because you use more, you will pay at a higher rate.  GE stands to make BILLIONS off of this so is it any wonder that they were such huge supporters of President Obama during his campaign?  You probably know that GE owns NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.  General Electric holds 80 percent share of NBC Universal with 14 television centers (9 of which are in the top 10 market share) and 14 Spanish language television stations, (8 of which are in the top 10 market share) but did know know that they also own Bravo, Mun2TV, the Sci-Fi channel, Trio and USA Networks?  Did you know that they own Universal Pictures and Universal Studios parks and resorts?  What I am trying to say here is that GE has the ability to control the message.  Now you know why MSNBC and others were so in the tank for Obama during the election.  When a couple of the folks over at CNBC spoke out against the President, GE CEO Jeffery Immelt and NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker called a secret meeting with some of the on air talent to warn them about Obama bashing.  Humm, odd how they never called ANY of the DOZENS of their on air talent from MSNBC for Bush bashing.  Immelt is purported to be one Keith Olbermann’s biggest fans.

So, Cap and Trade will destroy tons of jobs and drive up the cost of energy for ALL of us AND drive up the cost of EVERYTHING we use every day because everything we use either gets created or distributed with energy that will be heavily taxed under this bill.  The funniest part of this, and the saddest part, is those people who will be hardest hit will be the elderly, poor and middle class.  Funny because, at least for the poor and middle class, they were the largest group of supporters for Obama during his run for office.  Some folks might be able to afford an extra $3,000 per year in their electric bill but most can’t.

Now to our Healthcare system.  Let me be blunt.  President Obama is lying to our faces and he knows it but I will cover that more in a bit.  Let’s look at our Health care system or more to the point, our Health-care insurance system.  The President will have us believe that 45 (the number keeps changing) million Americans do not have health care.  What he means of course is that 45 million Americans do not have Health-care insurance.  Of course, we know that by law NOONE can be turned away for emergency health-care needs (which is what the vast majority of Health insurance gets used for) in this country, regardless of their ability to pay.  So, in essence, EVERYONE has emergency health-care coverage.  Now, let’s pretend that the President is not just full of crap, though I suspect he most certainly is, when it comes to the number of people without, as he puts it, health-care.  I think it is important to closely examine the numbers because it can be shocking to see such a large number (which to be honest is the point) without some real perspective.  Please allow me to provide some of that well needed perspective.  So, if 45 million Americans DO NOT have health care and the population of the United States, as calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, is 307 million, that means that 260 million Americans DO HAVE health-care.  So that means that only 15% of the population does not have NON-EMERGENCY health-care.  In short, 85% of Americans DO have health-care.  Wow, that, by any standard, is pretty darn good.  Then if you factor in the number of people who are part of the 15% who could afford health-care coverage but just choose not get it, I believe that the number of folks without health-care will drop to single digits.  I won’t even get into the fact that a large part of that 15% are not even in this country legally.  So, our current system not only covers the vast majority of our citizens (by the Presidents own numbers), but the revenue it has generated has created some of the greatest advancements in medical and scientific technology in modern history.  I just saw once such new advancement recently called the eICU (learn more here:

This advancement is amazing and will not only save thousands of lives a year but will also save TONS of money.  This advancement came from the private sector without the need for any Government input or funding.  This technology is so good that now other countries around the world are coming to us to get it and to get help implementing it, including our neighbors to the north, Canada.  So, that begs the question, if the Canadian health-care system is so good, as the current administration would have us believe, and our system is so broken, again as we are lead to believe, then why are we still leading the world in such advancements?  While I am on the subject of Canada’s Health-Care system, I want you to read this story and ask yourself if this is what you want for you or your family: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/20/health/main681801.shtml?cmp=EM8705

Now the President wants to pay for his new health-care plan by taxing the health-care benefits provided by employers.  I am lucky enough to have great health-care provided by my employer.  It has been estimated that my health-care plan equates to about $35,000-$40,000 per year.  Under Obama’s plan, I will now have to pay taxes on an additional $35,000-$40,000 per year.  Now, here is where the President is lying to our faces.  He tells us that, under his plan, if we like our plan, we can keep it.  Think about that.  Who will be able to afford to keep their current plan if the President is going to tax it?  It is one thing to get moved into a higher tax bracket because you are making more in actual money.  It is another to get moved into a higher taxed bracket without any more actual money coming it.  Add to that, how many employers will continue to offer their employees health-care when the Government will provide it to them? 

Cloward and Piven

You want to understand what the left in this country hope to gain by bankrupting us?  You need to understand the “Crisis Strategy” put forth by two radical professors of social work at Columbia University in the 1960’s.  Here is the gist of what they wrote and you can learn more at http://www.cloward-piven.com :

As you read the following about Cloward and Piven, just remember what Rahm Emanuel so famously said: “You never want to let a serious crisis to go to waste.”

Quote:

Cloward-Piven is a strategy for forcing political change through orchestrated crisis.

The strategy was first proposed in 1966 by Columbia University political scientists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven as a plan to bankrupt the welfare system and produce radical change. Sometimes known as the "crisis strategy" or the the "flood-the-rolls, bankrupt-the-cities strategy," the Cloward-Piven approach called for swamping the welfare rolls with new applicants - more than the system could bear. It was hoped that the resulting economic collapse would lead to political turmoil and ultimately socialism.

The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), founded by African-American militant George Alvin Wiley, put the Cloward-Piven strategy to work in the streets. Its activities led directly to the welfare crisis that bankrupted New York City in 1975.

Veterans of NWRO went on to found the Living Wage Movement and the Voting Rights Movement, both of which rely on the Cloward-Piven strategy and both of which are spear-headed by the radical cult ACORN.

Both the Living Wage and Voting Rights movements depend heavily on financial support from George Soros's Open Society Institute

In closing, I believe that our country is currently under attack not just from the outside but from the inside and from our own government.  I believe that their end game is to destroy the American economy in order to bring about the collapse of our government for the purpose of replacing  it.  There could be no other explanation as to why we are doing the things we are doing.  Think about it.  Why would you now want to increase energy cost (gas for your car, gas for your home, electricity for your home, etc) for ALL Americans while we are in the grips of the biggest economic crisis since the great depression?  Why on earth would you want to create a health-care system that will eventually force everyone onto it, when you can’t even fund social security which only have a fraction of the country on it?  The only answer has to be that you want to break the back of this country.  You want this country to fall into further economic chaos in order to force a complete collapse.  Think about it!

Okay people if you are one of the ones out there who still believe that global warming is A. still happening and B. caused by humans please allow me to say what a dumb ass you are.  I mean seriously how stupid can you be?  Okay maybe you are not really stupid but are instead just LAZY.  I mean all the data is right there for you to look at and yet you prefer to just let people like Al Gore tell you how to think.

Check this out.  If I asked you what the #1 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere was what would you say?   I would venture a bet that most of you sheep would say that it's CO2.  Well, you would be dead wrong!!  the #1 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is actually WATER VAPOR!  That's right, Water Vapor.  Water Vapor accounts for 95% of the global warming effect.  Now, knowing that water vapor is the #1 greenhouse gas, how stupid does it sound now when you here that one of the major plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to drive hydrogen powered cars whose emissions are...... wait for it......wait for it......WATER VAPOR!!  So we are going to curb greenhouse gas emissions by driving cars that emit the #1 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.  Now that is what I call inspired stupidity!!

Time for a little history lesson:

Back in 1970's, congress passed and the President signed into law "The Clean Air Act" to curb pollution, and yes we absolutely needed it.  The main provisions of the clean air act are:

1. Establishing National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The law requires that EPA identify and set standards for pollutants identified as harmful to human health and the environment. The six "criteria" pollutants are:

• Carbon monoxide
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Ozone
• Sulfur dioxide
• Particulate matter with aerodynamic size less than or equal to 10 micrometers (PM-10)
• Lead.

2. Primary and Secondary Standards. The Clean Air Act establilshes two categories of air quality standards: Primary standards set limits to protect public health. Secondary standards set limits to protect against public welfare effects, such as damage to farm crops and vegetation.

3. Leaded gasoline phase down. The law requires leaded gas to be phased out by the mid-1980s — one of the single most important and successful environmental health initiatives of the last century.

Notice that CO2 is not listed as a pollutant that is harmful to the environment.  In fact this act required strict motor vehicle emissions and fuel standards.  The only thing that would not be regulated or limited in any way from being produced from a car exhaust was water vapor and CO2 because "both are naturally occurring and NOT harmful to the environment" If any of you sheep care to read this ground breaking piece of legislation for yourselves, you can find it here: http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/

So, CO2 and Water Vapor are not harmful to the environment until now!!  Now CO2 is the demon that we need to kill.  So, when we start creating cars that emit only water vapor, how long do you think it will take before the enviro nut jobs start to demonize water vapor?  What a freaking joke!!

STOP BEING SHEEP!!  DO SOME DAMN RESEARCH PEOPLE!!  You don't have to be a climate scientist to look at the available historical temperature data and see that what you have been told is a bald faced lie!!  Don't believe me?  Check this out.  I decided to see if I could find any historical temperature data for the area where I live (Charlotte, North Carolina).  Guess what?  I found historical temperature data going back 57 years!!  that's right, raw temperature numbers.  Let me share some of the really interesting things that I found out.  First I found out what I already pretty much knew which is that Al Gore is full crapola.  Good old Al said that the last part of the 20th century (the 1990's) were the hottest on record.  Humm, let's just look at that record and see for ourselves shall we.  FYI, all this data is available here: http://www.sercc.com/cgi-bin/sercc/cliMAIN.pl?nc1690

Hottest Spring was 97 set on May 31st 1953

Hottest summer temperature was 103 set on July 29th 1952

Hottest Fall Temperature was 104 set on September 6th 1954

Hottest Winter Temp 81 degrees set on February 26th 1977

Strange, the hottest days in Charlotte North Carolina did not occur anywhere near the 1990's

So, having seen this I really wanted to see all the temperatures for every month for the past 57 years and I was able to find that info on the same web site located here:  http://www.sercc.com/cgi-bin/sercc/cliMAIN.pl?nc1690

So I took the average temperatures for my area, plugged them into excel and then created this chart so I could see the temps represented graphically.  I added the red live for all the blind sheep who would be unable to see the obvious trend otherwise.  Several things struck me as interesting in this chart.  First, notice that the temperatures seem to be falling through the 1940's, 50's, 60's and 1970's.  Now keep in mind that this is during the "post war economic boom" when we were pumping more dioxins into the atmosphere than at any time in our history and the temperature was going down.  In fact it was not until after the clean air act of the 1970's that the cooling trend stopped and then began to reverse itself and we began to warm up again.  You can see us warming pretty steadily staring in the mid 80's through the 1990's and having a final spike in 1998 and it has been getting steadily COOLER ever since.  How can this be?  Well, the lead scientist of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) says that we have cooled since 1998 due to a decrease in solar activity.  I find this statement to be very odd since it was the IPCC that said the increase in solar activity that we had seen since the mid 80's and through the 90's was NOT the cause of global warming.  Wait just a second.  So you are saying that the increase in solar activity in 80's and 90's was not the cause of global warming during that time however, the degrease in solar activity since 1998 IS the cause of the recent cooling.  Anyone that considers themselves at least a little intelligent should be totally insulted by this obvious obfuscation of the truth!  Again, common sense would tell us that if our sun is more active then we will be warmer and if the sun is less active then we will be cooler.  Come on people this is not rocket science!

So people STOP LISTENING TO THE TALKING HEADS WITH AN AGENDA!  Start doing some research!!  check and cross check.  This is too important for you to remain asleep at the wheel.  That is exactly what politicians are counting on.  They think that they can tell you whatever they want to and get away with it because you are just too damn lazy to do some fact checking of your own and too stupid to apply common sense.  Add to that the fact that the mainstream media seem to now be completely under the control of the Enviro nuts, as is the current party in power, and it becomes even more important then ever for us to start paying attention and start doing our own research and start asking ourselves what makes more sense.  Does it make more sense that our planet gets warmer or cooler based on a gas that makes up between .01% –0.1%  of our atmosphere (and of that number, humans are responsible for 0.28%) or that the Sun, whose outer atmosphere is 1.5 to 2 billion degrees Fahrenheit, might have something to do with our temperatures.  Come on people, it is common sense.  Look this up, the temperatures on Mars have increased and decreased at the same rate as those on Earth.  If that is true, then now can human activity be the cause?  You have some scientist who claim that the increase in the temps on Mars are caused by large dust storms that blow dust into the upper atmosphere and trap heat.  Yet these same scientist will explain the sudden 1.2 degree Celsius drop in global temperatures in 1884 as being caused by the eruption of Krakatau the year before which spewed 21 cubic kilometers of rock, ash and pumice into the atmosphere.  So let me see if I understand this.  Dust storms pushing dust into the upper atmosphere of Mars make it warmer (coincidentally warming it at the same rate as the Earth warmed during the same time period), but a Volcano spewing the same kind of stuff into our upper atmosphere (and which included more co2 then all of human activity), caused a global temperature degrease.  Ask yourself this question; DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?  For any reasonable person, the answer to that question would have to be NO!

I know it might sound ridiculous to muse that our own President hates this country however, the evidence is starting to become overwhelming.  It seems that every time I see him speak, he is insulting this country.  First he goes overseas and apologizes for the United States as if all the worlds troubles are our fault.  Next I see him taking a deep, from the waist, bow to the king of Saudi Arabia.  Now, just last night I am watching him give a speech with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan and what do I see but another insult to this country.  Maybe I am just being overly sensitive but, as a veteran and someone who has actually gone to war for this country, I cannot for the life of me understand how my President can be so ignorant or cavalier, not to notice that the American Flag is displayed on the WRONG SIDE!!  Any time the American flag is displayed indoors, the flag is accorded the place of honor, always positioned to its own right.   You always place it to the right of the speaker or staging area or sanctuary. Other flags should be to the left.  Watching the speech last night, I instantly noticed that the flags of Afghanistan and Pakistan were on President Obama’s right, the place of honor, and our own flag was in the subservient position on his left!!

I understand that mistakes happen however, I am starting to see a pattern of distain for this country and all it has stood for!!  I mean, the president has an enormous staff of people who are supposed to take care of this sort of thing, but like all leaders know, you can delegate authority but not responsibility!  So, ultimately this “Mistake” falls squarely on the President and I for one demand an apology, not just an apology to me, but to the entire “Nation for which is stands” and especially to the veterans and our families!

For all the mistakes that George W. Bush made, and let me be clear, I am not a big fan of the “W,”  but he never once insulted the country in this way and he was supposed to be the “the dumb” one.

Now that is how the flag is supposed to be displayed!!

Barack Obama was an active participant in the 1990s, and a direct political beneficiary, of the Chicago New Party and, importantly, the Chicago DSA, a group of socialists affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America.

1. Barack Obama attended and participated in meetings of the Chicago New Party and the Chicago DSA, the local affiliate of the Democratic Socialists of America.
2. Barack Obama sought the endorsement of the Chicago DSA which required rigorous scrutiny by the party’s Political Committee as well as Mr. Obama’s signature on a contract promising “a visible and active relationship with the NP.”
3. Barack Obama actively used the endorsement from the Chicago DSA.
4. Barack Obama won his DSA-endorsed and -backed campaign to secure his seat in the Illinois State Senate.
5. Barack Obama continued his involvement with the Chicago DSA — including directly asking the group to join “his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration” — and received their endorsements in subsequent campaigns.

Obama’s participation in and endorsement from the Chicago New Party and Chicago DSA, the local affiliate of the Democratic Socialists of America (which is the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International) is quite clear:

1. According to the write-up on the July 1995 meeting of Chicago DSA and New Party membership, Barack Obama was one of about 50 people attending out of their then-300 member local group. Other documents below will demonstrate Barack Obama attended and participated in subsequent meetings.
2. The New Party rigorously evaluated its candidate endorsements and claimed “a winning ratio of 77 of 110 elections.” This was no passive endorsement.

   Candidates must be approved via a NP political committee. Once approved, candidates must sign a contract with the NP. The contract mandates that they must have a visible and active relationship with the NP.—New Ground

3. Candidate Barack Obama participated as a panelist at the DSA-sponsored Town Meeting on February 25, 1996, entitled “Employment and Survival in Urban America”. As reported in New Ground
4. Obama subsequently secured his endorsement from the Chicago DSA
5. The local Democratic Socialists of America affiliate issued their Chicago DSA Endorsements in the March 19th Primary Election:
6. Barack Obama Continued Attending Membership Meetings of the Chicago DSA New Party
   Obama attended membership meeting on April 11, 1996 where he expressed his gratitude for their support. The report shared that “Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration.”

So basically Mr. Obama won the election in Chicago with the help of the DSA. For a more detailed look at the DSA and what they are read on:

Describing itself as “the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International,” the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States. “We are socialists,” reads the organization’s boilerplate, “because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.” “To achieve a more just society,” adds DSA, “many structures of our government and economy must be radically transformed. … Democracy and socialism go hand in hand. All over the world, wherever the idea of democracy has taken root, the vision of socialism has taken root as well—everywhere but in the United States.”

Formed in 1983 during the Cold War by merging splinter factions of the Socialist movement, DSA brought together what it calls “former Socialists and Communists, former old leftists and new leftists, and many who had never been leftists at all.” In its early years, DSA supported the Soviet-backed nuclear freeze program that would have consolidated Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe - under the banner of promoting “peace.”

DSA summarizes its philosophy as follows: “Today … [r]esources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs. We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them. Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic Socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. … While we believe that democratic planning can shape major social investments like mass transit, housing, and energy, market mechanisms are needed to determine the demand for many consumer goods.” …

DSA seeks to increase its political influence not by establishing its own party, but rather by working closely with the Democratic Party to promote leftist agendas…

In the wake of 9/11, DSA characterized the terror attacks as acts of retaliation for American-perpetrated global injustices. “We live in a world,” said DSA, “organized so that the greatest benefits go to a small fraction of the world’s population while the vast majority experiences injustice, poverty, and often hopelessness. Only by eliminating the political, social, and economic conditions that lead people to these small extremist groups can we be truly secure.”

Strongly opposed to the U.S. War on Terror and America’s post-9/11 military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, DSA is a member organization of the United For Peace and Justice anti-war coalition led by Leslie Cagan, a longtime committed socialist who aligns her politics with those of Fidel Castro’s Communist Cuba.

DSA publishes a quarterly journal titled Democratic Left, which discusses issues of concern to the organization and its constituents. The Founding Editor of this publication was Michael Harrington. DSA has also created a youth association called Young Democratic Socialists…