With the 2026 midterm primary season coming into high gear, most in the media have focused on recent races in which longtime incumbent Republicans like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and U.S. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4) have lost their reelection bids.
While those elections certainly deserve attention, a more significant development is the fact that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is mobilizing their hundreds of “chapters” to “prepare for a busy election season in 2026.”
So far, the “DSA’s ambitious electoral agenda in 2026” includes nearly “90 endorsees, including more than a dozen congressional candidates.”
On May 19, one of those congressional candidates, Chris Rabb, cruised to victory in the Democratic primary election for Pennsylvania’s 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rabb, who also received endorsements from far-left groups like the Working Families Party, Justice Democrats, and One Pennsylvania, easily defeated the Philadelphia Democratic Machine’s preferred candidate, Sharif Street.
Throughout the campaign, Rabb derided Street’s policy platform as too moderate. Even before his victory was officially announced, Rabb boasted “that the era of establishment politics is coming to an end.”
Rabb contends that democratic socialists like himself “are framed as radical or far left by mainstream media” and establishment politicians when they are actually “very much in the moral center.”
I guess that depends on one’s definition of morality.
Rabb’s policy pitch is simple: Guarantee as much “free stuff” as possible to some, at the expense of others.
According to his campaign website, Rabb supports Universal Basic Guarantees: Medicare for All, Housing, Food and Water, Free Transit, High-Speed Internet, Childcare, Income, and Jobs. This would include a “universal basic income and a living wage for all.”
He also wants to “revitalize public ownership” because he argues “government has lifted families out of poverty and provided sustainable and quality jobs during times of desperate need.”
“As a Democratic Socialist, I believe that revitalizing federal public works programs would reclaim pathways to long-term economic mobility,” he says. Thus, Rabb wants to “create a focus point for critical national efforts like infrastructure upgrades, green energy conversion, nature conservation, and more.”
Speaking of energy and the environment, Rabb, like all his democratic socialist comrades, is a climate alarmist. “As we continue to face the increasing impacts of climate change, we need action now,” he claims, sans any evidence to support the former.
As for the latter, Rabb promotes “The Green New Deal,” “A Just Transition to 100% Renewable Energy,” “Green Union Jobs,” and “A Civil Climate Corps.”
“Passing a strong climate agenda that includes a Civil Climate Corps will help create millions of good-paying jobs and ensure a strong and sustainable transition to renewable energy for every community,” he proclaims. He fails to mention that 100 percent renewable energy is a farce that would drastically increase energy prices, result in energy rationing, and impoverish working people.
Naturally, Rabb also wants “free public college” and a “Supreme Court overhaul.”
What’s missing from Rabb’s website is any mention of how he would pay for all the “free stuff.”
After an exhaustive search of his website and policy platform, I could not find a single sentence describing how any of this would be funded.
I find that interesting, especially considering New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent struggle to “balance” New York City’s budget.
If New York City cannot afford democratic socialism, I highly doubt the nation can.
I also take much umbrage with Rabb’s contention that democratic socialist policies, like those listed above, represent the “moral center.”
Socialism, as my colleague Justin Haskins describes in detail, is an evil ideology that thrives on humanity’s worst instincts and impulses, namely envy. Socialism does not seek to inspire; it seeks to pit groups against one another in a zero-sum economic contest.
It is not moral to use force and coercion, which socialism eventually imposes.
As America stands on the cusp of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I hope more Americans become alert to the fact that democratic socialism is not moral or ambitious. It is immoral, violates human nature, inhibits freedom, reduces prosperity, and has absolutely no place in the United States of America in 2026 and beyond.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
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