The Choice Facing Democrats and Independents This November

Can voters who strongly oppose Donald Trump look beyond one man when the future direction of the country is at stake?

For generations, Americans have disagreed over taxes, spending, regulation, foreign policy and the proper size of government. Those debates could be fierce, but they generally took place within a shared understanding: America is a constitutional republic, capitalism - properly regulated - is the foundation of our economy, and political change must respect the institutions that protect our freedom.

This November, traditional Democrats and independent voters face a much more fundamental choice.

Many of these voters consider themselves patriotic Americans. They believe in free enterprise, private property, equal opportunity, public safety, secure borders and our constitutional system of government. They may support organized labor, environmental protections, abortion rights or a stronger social safety net. They may also strongly dislike Donald Trump and distrust the Republican Party.

But do they support replacing capitalism with socialism? The question is no longer merely theoretical.

The Democratic Socialists of America is not simply calling for a slightly larger government or a few additional social programs. The organization openly states that capitalism must be replaced with democratic socialism.

Its published 2025-2026 program calls for placing the largest corporations under public ownership and “democratic control”. It also supports publicly owned energy and housing, universal rent control, a federal jobs guarantee, a 32-hour workweek with no reduction in pay, universal healthcare at no individual cost, free public education through college and cancellation of student debt.

The program goes well beyond economic policy. It advocates phasing out fossil fuels, enacting reparations and redirecting police funding as a step toward fully abolishing the police and prison systems. It calls for abolishing ICE, ending immigrant detention and deportations, granting immediate amnesty regardless of immigration status and extending voting rights to noncitizen residents.

In foreign policy, the DSA supports greatly reducing America’s military budget, closing overseas bases and ending economic sanctions against governments including Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. It also proposes replacing the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary subordinate to Congress, abolishing the Senate and replacing the present two-party structure with a multiparty system based on proportional representation.

These are not accusations invented by Republicans. They are positions contained in the DSA’s own published materials. Some individual proposals may sound attractive when considered in isolation. Who wouldn’t want more affordable healthcare, housing and education? Those are legitimate concerns. But voters should distinguish between desirable goals and the political and economic system proposed to achieve them. The DSA does not merely seek to reform capitalism. It describes capitalism as exploitative and seeks to replace it. That is a transformation of the American system, not an ordinary policy adjustment.

The DSA itself describes its objective in similarly sweeping terms: a new constitution, a new political system and a democratic socialist republic.

For traditional Democrats and independents, the greatest obstacle to confronting this agenda may be their emotional reaction to Donald Trump.

Some cannot stand his personality, rhetoric or confrontational style. Some believe he has damaged political discourse. Others have come to associate support for Republican candidates with support for Trump himself.

But Donald Trump is not personally on the ballot in the 2026 midterm elections. Control of Congress, state governments and the future direction of the country are.

Voters do not have to admire Trump. They do not have to approve of everything he says. They do not have to become Republicans for life. They have to decide whether their opposition to one man should outweigh their commitment to an economic and constitutional system they otherwise support.

If a voter believes in capitalism but votes for a candidate who supports a movement committed to replacing it, is that vote consistent with the voter’s own principles? If a voter believes citizenship should matter but empowers a coalition containing organizations that demand voting rights for noncitizens and an end to deportations, is that position consistent? If a voter supports police reform but not police abolition, can that voter safely ignore the distinction?

These are uncomfortable questions. They are nevertheless questions every serious voter must answer.

Millions of Democrats do not support socialism. They work for private companies, own homes and small businesses, save for retirement, raise families, serve in the military and depend on safe communities. They may want government to address real problems, but they do not want government controlling the economy or dismantling the institutions that maintain public order.

Independent voters are often even more skeptical of ideological extremes. They may dislike Republican rhetoric while recognizing that activists who consider traditional liberalism inadequate are pulling the Democratic coalition steadily leftward.

The DSA itself rejects both major parties as controlled by wealthy interests. Nevertheless, DSA-aligned candidates frequently use Democratic ballot lines and participate in Democratic primaries. And the connection is not merely symbolic. Under DSA's new national program, candidates seeking its national endorsement are expected to accept and promote the program and align their campaign platforms with it to the best of their ability. This gives the socialist movement influence inside a party whose traditional voters may not share its ultimate objectives.

The mistake would be to assume that because every Democrat is not a socialist, the socialist movement has no influence over Democratic politics. The real question is whether Democratic voters are prepared to reward a party that increasingly makes room within its ranks for candidates and organizations seeking changes those voters would never knowingly endorse.

Patriotism is easy when it costs nothing. The real test comes when defending the country’s principles requires voting against one’s customary party, setting aside a personal grievance or accepting an imperfect political alternative.

Voters who have serious concerns about the direction of the country face a choice. They can vote as they always have. They can stay home because neither party or candidate fully represents them. Or they can set aside party loyalty and personal feelings about individual candidates and make a practical choice based on which political direction they believe poses the greater risk to the country.

Staying home may feel like neutrality, but in a close election, nonparticipation still has consequences. It allows the most organized and ideologically committed voters to determine the result.

No party is perfect. No candidate will satisfy every voter. Elections rarely offer a choice between perfection and failure. They offer a choice between competing directions.

A vote for a Republican candidate does not require abandoning every Democratic belief. It does not erase legitimate concerns about Republican policies or personalities, and it does not make someone a permanent Republican.

It can simply mean recognizing that there are moments when preserving the country’s basic economic and constitutional framework must come before party loyalty and personal animosity.

Traditional Democrats and independents who value America’s founding principles, capitalism, secure borders, public safety, individual opportunity and constitutional government should read the DSA agenda for themselves. Then they should ask themselves a difficult question: Is their opposition to Donald Trump more important than the principles they have long believed in - and worth helping advance a political movement whose destination they do not support?

This November, the most patriotic vote may also be the most difficult one. When voters enter the voting booth, they should leave personality, party habit and political resentment outside. Instead, the decision should come down to something more fundamental:

What kind of America do I want the next generation to inherit - and which choice will help preserve it?

Sources

Democratic Socialists of America, Our Program. Workers Deserve More. Read the DSA Program

Democratic Socialists of America, What Is Democratic Socialism? Read the DSA’s explanation of democratic socialism