Abolish Everything? DSA’s Wild Power Play

The Democratic Socialists of America now openly backs abolishing prisons, borders, the Senate, the presidency, and even the Supreme Court — a direct challenge to America’s constitutional system and basic law and order.

Story Snapshot

Democratic Socialists of America leaders confirm their platform seeks to abolish prisons, borders, and core branches of the federal government.
The group’s official program calls to abolish the Senate and replace the two-party system with a new multi-party order.
New platform language and past documents outline long-term plans to end the prison system and the “carceral state.”
These goals would erase key checks and balances and weaken public safety, putting the Constitution and everyday Americans at risk.

DSA’s Platform Targets Core American Institutions

Democratic Socialists of America leaders and written platforms now spell out an agenda that targets the foundations of American government. The group’s national program explicitly calls to **abolish the Senate**, expand the House of Representatives, and replace the current two-party system with a new multi-party democracy. Reporting on the latest “Workers Deserve More” manifesto says it goes further, proposing to **replace the presidency and the Supreme Court** with an executive and judiciary chosen by and answerable to Congress. Together, these demands would wipe out the checks and balances that protect individual liberty and block one-party rule.

Details from the platform and public interviews show that Democratic Socialists of America does not hide this vision; it embraces it. Coverage of the new manifesto describes a plan to scrap the executive branch as we know it, abolish the Electoral College, and shift to a parliamentary-style system where the House picks a prime minister-like leader and appoints members of the Supreme Court. Commentators warn that such changes would gut the separation of powers James Madison designed, leaving Congress dominant and other branches subordinate, which raises serious alarms for anyone who cares about the Constitution and limited government.

From Prison “Reform” to Prison Abolition

Democratic Socialists of America’s push does not stop at the Capitol; it reaches deep into America’s criminal justice system. Its 2021 platform draft and later materials lay out a decarceration agenda that moves from near-term steps like ending cash bail and mandatory minimum sentences toward **long-term prison abolition**. The draft platform’s long-term section calls to “free all people from involuntary confinement in jails, prisons, detention centers and coercive care facilities,” starting with older and vulnerable inmates. Commentary on the group’s national agenda notes that Democratic Socialists of America endorsed “prison abolition” as a core goal and describes incarceration and policing as tools of “class war” that must be dismantled.

More recent coverage confirms that this is not just old rhetoric tucked away in obscure documents. In a national program section titled “End Mass Incarceration and Police Immunity,” Democratic Socialists of America says the movement should move toward “fully abolishing the police and prison system which protects the rich and jails the poor.” A Democratic Socialists of America Praxis essay argues that abolition of police and prisons “must be an explicit and institutionalized goal” for the organization. Analysts point out that this approach treats prisons mainly as expressions of inequality, downplaying the basic need to separate violent criminals from law-abiding families and communities.

Leaders Admit: Abolish Prisons, Borders, and Immigration Enforcement

Television interviews with top Democratic Socialists of America officials have turned what some once dismissed as fringe talk into clear, on-air admissions. In one widely discussed Fox News appearance, national co-chair Megan Romer was asked, one by one, to confirm items from the group’s platform. When the host said “Abolish prisons?” Romer replied “Absolutely,” and later described abolishing prisons and borders as part of the organization’s long-term program. She also agreed that Democratic Socialists of America wants to abolish the Senate, abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defund the Pentagon, and get rid of national borders while granting amnesty to people living in the country illegally.

Romer tried to soften concerns by saying most people are in prison “for crimes of poverty” and that society could “collectively decide” what to do with those who are dangerous, but admitted that the result “won’t look like the prison system as we know it today.” For many Americans, especially conservatives who remember soaring crime during past “reform” pushes, that is exactly the problem: Democratic Socialists of America wants to tear down the system before offering any clear, workable plan to keep families safe. Conservative critics argue that abolishing borders, prisons, and immigration enforcement at a time of cartel activity, human trafficking, and rising urban crime is reckless and “wildly anti-American.”

What This Agenda Would Mean for Everyday Americans

Analysts across the political spectrum agree on one basic point: these Democratic Socialists of America proposals would fundamentally transform the country. Abolishing the Senate and Electoral College would erase key protections for smaller states and rural communities, shifting power toward dense urban areas and ideological activists. Replacing the presidency and Supreme Court with bodies fully subordinate to Congress would concentrate authority in one branch, weakening the checks that guard against abuses and sudden swings driven by narrow majorities. And dismantling prisons, police, and borders would make it harder to protect law-abiding citizens from violent offenders and criminal networks.

For President Trump’s supporters and many other Americans, Democratic Socialists of America’s platform confirms long-held fears about the radical left: that it is prepared to tear down the Constitution, erase national sovereignty, and gamble with public safety in the name of ideology. The controversy also shows the importance of reading platforms closely; Democratic Socialists of America is not hiding these goals, it is writing them down and defending them on national television. That transparency gives voters a clear choice between a movement that wants to abolish prisons, borders, and key branches of government and leaders who are working to secure the border, support police, uphold the Constitution, and protect families from chaos and crime.