The Socialists are Here..

The Democratic Socialists of America, supposedly a mild form of real socialism that opposes both capitalism and communism, has announced a list of Congressional members of their party. You can read about it here, which includes 70 of some of the loudest most prominent troublemakers.

Members like Maxine ("go all socialist on ya" Waters. And Charlie Rangel. And our own Steve Cohen.

Who are they? This is from their preamble:

Liberty
A democratic commitment to a vibrant pluralist life assumes the need for a democratic, responsive, and representative government to regulate the market, protect the environment, and ensure a basic level of equality and equity for each
citizen. In the 21st century, such regulation will increasingly occur through international, multilateral action.

But while a democratic state can protect individuals from domination by inordinately powerful, undemocratic transnational corporations, people develop the social bonds that render life meaningful only through cooperative, voluntary relationships. Promoting such bonds is the responsibility of socialists and the government alike.

Democratic socialism is committed both to a freedom of speech that does not recoil from dissent, and to the freedom to organize independent trade unions, women's groups, political parties, and other social movements. We are committed to a freedom of religion and conscience that acknowledges the rights of those for whom spiritual concerns are central and the rights of those who reject organized religion.

Control of economic, social, and cultural life by either government or corporate elites is hostile to the vision of democratic pluralism embraced by democratic socialism. The social welfare programs of government have been for the most part positive, if partial, responses to the genuine social needs of the great majority of Americans. The dismantling of such programs by conservative and corporate elites in the absence of any alternatives will be disastrous. Abandoning schools, health care, and housing, for example, to the control of an unregulated free market magnifies the existing harsh realities of inequality and injustice.

Sounds pretty close to what we have in power at the moment. Some may say "well that doesn't sound too radical"... yes, but read the last sentence under the assumption that some entity might one day democratically remove their idealistic reforms--what would be the likely result? Would "international, multilateral action" be their cavalry to the rescue?

Anyway, as Wikileaks prepares to leak more state secrets isn't it fair to know which journolistas are also members of the DSA? Sunshine is the best disinfectant, as someone famous once said.

MORE 8/13/10

This may be a snookered post. The Scribd page grabs off two sites, the Dem Socialist site (which contains the genuine preamble, a section of which was posted above) and another site, which lists the Congresspeople who are supposedly members of the DSA. That list was sourced to the House Progressive Caucus website. Problem is, it shows no such list, and nothing in cache. So this may be the figment of somebody's imagination designed to trash political opponents using trickery. If so, then apologies to both you the reader and the Congresspeoples. We're not gonna do 'fake but accurate' here.