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Socialism has always lurked in the shadows of American politics, hiding in faculty lounges, union halls, and the platforms of obscure third parties. For decades, it was a political taboo, viewed by most Americans as incompatible with liberty, prosperity, and personal responsibilities and freedoms.
That taboo is disappearing.
Today, socialism is no longer a fringe fantasy. It is being championed by elected officials, and marketed to younger generations as a morally superior alternative to capitalism.
The Democratic Socialists of America, once a tiny activist club, now boasts over 90,000 members and an expanding roster of candidates running races from New York to Minneapolis.
Sen. Bernie Sanders did not invent this movement, but he did help make it visible. For years, he proudly wore the “democratic socialist” label, while several of his peers danced around the term. His presidential campaigns broke the stigma, transforming a long-dismissed ideology into a respectable political brand. His message — tax the rich, expand the state, forgive all debt — resonated with young voters who felt left behind.
But Sanders was just the beginning.
His ideological heirs have taken things much further. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, propelled into Congress by a wave of youth activism and digital organizing, fused socialism with cultural politics and media savvy. Alongside her, other figures are pushing a vision far more radical than Sanders ever dared to on the national stage.
These politicians do not just want to “reform” the system; they want to replace it. Their vision of socialism is sweeping: a cradle-to-grave welfare state, centralized control over the economy, government dominance over housing, healthcare, and even media. And most troubling, they are building political machines to make it happen.
The success of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez opened the floodgates for others. Ilhan Omar, another proud DSA member, has embraced and advanced their agenda, often pushing the boundaries even further. She has called for dismantling capitalism, abolishing immigration enforcement, and redistributing wealth and land based on “historic injustices.” But the socialist surge is not limited to Washington.

Today, socialism is being marketed to younger generations as a morally superior alternative to capitalism.

Dalia Al-Aqidi

These figures are not anomalies. They are part of a coordinated effort to reshape the Democratic Party from within, using the legitimacy of electoral office to normalize an anti-capitalist worldview.
The Democratic Socialists of America no longer hide their goals. Their platform reads like a utopian manifesto, but operates like a roadmap to national decline. They want to eliminate private ownership in key sectors, impose massive taxation, “democratize” the workplace through forced collectivism, and shut down any institution that does not align with their ideology.
They do not just want more social programs; they want the government to own and control the system itself: healthcare, housing, transportation, and even the media.
Imagine the America they envision: government-sponsored grocery stores, where bureaucrats in Washington determine inventory and pricing. Private business replaced by state-assigned roles. Medical care based not on need, but on waitlists. News outlets filtered through a government “disinformation” lens. And social credit systems determine your place in the economic queue.
They yearn to replace the open market, the very foundation of American innovation and upward mobility, with managed scarcity and enforced equality.
The movement’s greatest asset is ignorance, particularly among younger voters. Many of them have been raised to believe capitalism is the enemy and socialism is the answer. They have never seen East Berlin, they did not witness the collapse of the Soviet Union, and they do not understand why Venezuelans are starving or why Cubans flee on rafts. Meanwhile, their teachers praise socialism and their social media feeds romanticize it.
They were never taught the truth: that socialism destroys incentives, smothers innovation, and always leads to repression. They were never taught that under socialism, freedom is sacrificed for control, and the state always demands more power.
The irony, of course, is that the people calling for socialism have done so through the very liberties and opportunities capitalism provided them.
Sanders ran for president not once but twice, bankrolled by private donations on a privately developed digital infrastructure. Ocasio-Cortez became a household name by going viral, not under state media, but through the free, decentralized platforms of the internet. Ilhan Omar rose from a refugee camp to Congress in a country she now claims is structurally broken.
Capitalism made that possible, not socialism. And yet they want to dismantle the very system that allowed their voices to be heard. That is not progress; it is a political bait-and-switch.
Every time socialism has been tried, it has ended in failure, not because of bad luck or foreign sabotage, but because central planning does not work. Socialism begins with promises: free housing, free healthcare, free college, and free food. However, it always ends with shortages, censorship, corruption, and fear.
In the name of equality, socialism creates a permanent political class, unaccountable, unelected, and untouchable. The poor stay poor, and the powerful remain in power.
This socialist wave in the US must be met with clarity and courage. Americans need to say it plainly: the DSA and their candidates are not reformers, they are revolutionaries. Their agenda is not about justice; it is about power.
Take it from those of us who have lived through it: Socialism does not come all at once. It arrives slowly, wrapped in promises, cloaked in compassion, and disguised as progress. But by the time people realize what they have traded away, it is too late to turn back.

• Dalia Al-Aqidi is executive director at the American Center for Counter Extremism.