By Mark Hillman | Commentary, Capitol Review
Democratic Socialists are cruising through Democratic Party primaries like a hot knife through butter.
Entitled young adults, especially, respond to their angst-driven message, frustrated that expensive college degrees landed them entry-level jobs easily attained without a six-figure education.
Here in Colorado, Melat Kiros’ decisive win over 30-year incumbent Diana DeGette led a socialist wave in Denver that also saw a first-term centrist legislator ousted by a DSA challenger.
U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper did fend off a challenge by state Sen. Julie Gonzales, but the former two-term governor and mayor of Denver, lost to Gonzales in Denver by 13,000 votes.
And in Congressional District 8, social-media obsessed state Rep. Manny Rutinel easily defeated an accomplished member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to earn a November date versus incumbent Republican Gabe Evans.
Although DSA candidates try to sugar-coat their philosophy as a form of Scandavian socialism (universal government health care, pensions, and guaranteed basic income), the vengeful dogma behind today’s DSA sounds eerily like the Bolshevik narrative in the Russian revolution.
DSA’s platform, Worker’s Deserve More, advocates an end to capitalism, open borders, abolition of the police, emptying prisons, racial reparations, eliminating fossil fuels, and “guaranteed” jobs for all.
They would strictly regulate investment properties and impose universal rent control while somehow guaranteeing everyone free housing.
Their platform essentially seeks mob rule, calling for elimination of the President, U.S. Senate and Supreme Court.
They believe checks and balances are for suckers and America, as it’s existed for 250 years, is past its expiration date.
Born in Ethiopia, Kiros later grew up in Aurora. Like DSA victors elsewhere, she has excused the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attack on America and Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Isreal due to “the conditions in which violence and war happen.” She disputes that calls for the elimination of Israel is evidence of antisemitism.
Kiros, Gonzales and other DSA favorites, like state Rep. Yara Zokaie, gleefully make public appearances with socialist bomb-throwers like Hasan Piker, who has called for the execution of landlords (“kill those m—–f—-rs! Murder them in the street. Let the streets soak in their f—— red capitalist blood, dude.”).
Piker grew up in Turkey, the son of wealthy parents, then attended the University of Miami and Rutgers.
He is so “oppressed” that he purchased a $2.7 million home in West Hollywood while assailing capitalism, wealth and privilege on social media.
Piker proclaims admiration for Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong (“I would never make fun of him!”), who led the overthrow of China’s nationalist government. He calls Mao, “one of the great leaders of the world” and often makes speeches dressed like Mao.
Mao was the second most lethal mass-murderer in history, killing an estimated 35 million of his own countrymen – landlords, “rich” peasants, leftists, rightists, capitalists, scientists, intellectuals, scholars and even his own friends and family.
Reporters should ask any Democrat who associates with Piker if they, too, believe capitalists, landlords and political dissenters should be murdered in the street.
Why else bask in his spotlight?
For those who assume Hitler (whose Nazi Party was formally the National Socialist German Workers Party) was history’s worst mass-murder, think again. Mao killed nearly twice as many. The bloodiest dictator of all time was Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and killed more than 42 million, mostly his fellow citizens.
Yet all three were avowed socialists and gained early prominence by claiming to stand up for the common laborer.
“Democratic socialism” isn’t about democracy. It’s about control.
Anyone with even a feeble understanding of human nature knows you can’t steal people’s property, businesses and livelihoods and expect them to passively submit. To implement the socialist agenda, police and prisons will simply be repurposed to capture those who dare resist.
Many DSA candidates are running in solidly-blue districts, so they’re virtually assured of winning this November. But for those running in swing districts (or states), it would restore faith in democracy if voters punish Democrat Socialists the same way they often punish Republicans for nominating fringe candidates.
Mark Hillman served as Senate Majority Leader and State Treasurer.
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