By Mary Reese (with contributions by Leah Aldridge)

In recent years, political conversations around American dinner tables have shifted in ways many of us never expected. What once seemed impossible has become a headline: candidates openly running—and winning—on democratic-socialist platforms, not just in far-left corners of the country, but in places as surprising as Atlanta, Georgia.

For many conservative women, mothers, grandmothers, and community leaders, these wins raise a simple but urgent question:

How did socialism become acceptable enough that candidates can now proudly use the label—and still win elections?

Let’s explore what’s happening, why it matters, and how you can protect your family, your community, and your country from drifting toward an economic system that has repeatedly failed nations worldwide.

The Surprising Rise of Openly Socialist Candidates

Until very recently, the word socialist was politically toxic in the United States. But new candidates have broken that barrier.

Atlanta’s wake-up call

In 2025, Kelsea Bond won the Atlanta City Council District 2 seat while explicitly calling herself a democratic socialist. She ran with support from the Democratic Socialists of America and won outright—even though Atlanta’s local elections largely favored establishment candidates that year.

If a major Southern city elects its first openly democratic socialist to the council, we must take notice.

Georgia’s state legislature

In 2024, Gabriel Sanchez, another openly self-described socialist, won a seat in the Georgia House. He defeated an incumbent, won the general election easily, and now promotes DSA-aligned legislation in the state capitol.

A national example

In New York, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, also a proud democratic socialist, is running for Mayor of New York City—on promises of rent freezes, fare-free buses, and massive public spending.

These victories highlight a disturbing shift: socialist branding no longer disqualifies a candidate in America.

For many conservative mothers, the concern isn’t just who gets elected. It’s the realization that our children live in a culture where socialism is marketed as compassionate, trendy, and “fair.”

What Socialism Really Means—and Why It Fails

Kids hear promises like free college, free housing, or free healthcare, from leaders of Democratic Socialism, but they rarely hear the truth about where socialism leads.

Socialism means:

• State control of major industries
• Central planning, instead of market choices
• Redistribution of wealth based on political decisions, not productivity
• Limits on private property and enterprise

And it consistently produces:

1. Lower productivity

When hard work isn’t rewarded, people stop working hard. Economies stagnate.

2. Poor resource allocation

Central planners—not markets—decide what gets produced. That leads to shortages, black markets, and waste.

3. Weak innovation

Without profit incentives, companies have no reason to invest in new technologies or better products.

4. Erosion of freedoms

State control spreads from the economy into speech, voting, religion, and daily life.

But wait, is Democratic Socialism Different from Socialism?

Mainstream media is filled with articles that tortuously work to define Democratic Socialism’s ideals and mission as somehow different from Socialism. Let’s see what the Democratic Socialist Party says about itself. Simply read their platform and you find a wholesale overturning of our democratic, constitutionally protected way of life that includes:

“The Largest Corporations are Put Under Public (Government) Ownership”

There’s no hiding their support for the Government taking of private property in their platform. That means that what you own today – your ideas, your music, your patents, your business, your right to charge what you want for your services are all taken from you.

The Most Massive Expansion of Taxes and Government Spending in History

The American People will be taxed to pay for:

• free healthcare termed “Medicare for all” (to include a guarantee of taxpayer funded gender affirming care and abortion). Again, there’s no discussion of how these programs violate our Constitutional Right to the Free Exercise of Religion.
• free Pre-K for all
• free college for all

“Universal Rent Controlled Buildings”

Americans would no longer have the right to own property and to set the price for rental of that property.

“Public Ownership Over Major Transportation and Energy Infrastructure and All Natural Resources”

Your family farm? Your family land you leased for a windfarm or drilling or mining? The beach? The ocean? All energy and natural resources are placed under government control.

Foreign Policy and Economic Support to Communist Dictatorships: “Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran”

No National Border, American Taxpayer-Funded Healthcare and Schools for Anyone Who Comes Across the Border and Citizenship to all Immigrants

“Allow workers to freely migrate between countries” and provide “jobs, labor rights, and social services to all who come across the border”; “Extend full voting rights to people with criminal convictions and noncitizens”.

An End our Constitutional Representative Republic

They advocate “limit(ing) the Court’s power of judicial review” which means this party is calling for an end to the Constitutionally mandated balance of power between the three branches of Government.

The Proof is in the Pudding: What Happened to Countries That Try Socialism?

Every time a nation adopts socialism, its economic output suffers—especially its GDP per capita, a measure of how productive and prosperous the country truly is.

Soviet Union

• Chronic shortages
• Low productivity
• Collapse in 1991

Maoist China

• Catastrophic famine
• Economic stagnation
• Repression of political life

Venezuela

• Hyperinflation
• Mass emigration
• Collapse of once-strong oil industry

Eastern Bloc nations

• Environmental destruction
• Stagnant economies
• Limited freedoms

These countries didn’t fail because they “did socialism wrong.” They failed because socialism itself removes the incentives and freedoms necessary for prosperity.

The Ann Landers Way: Explaining Socialism to Your Kids

Ann Landers, known for her practical wisdom, once shared simple illustration parents still use today. It’s a perfect tool for talking to teenagers and college-age kids who hear glowing descriptions of socialism on social media.

The Cow Example

Capitalism:
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd grows.

Socialism/Democratic Socialism:
You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor who didn’t earn it and doesn’t know how to care for it.

Communism:
You have two cows. The government takes both. You wait in line for milk.

It’s simple. It’s relatable. And it provides a doorway for deeper conversations.

Why Conservative Women Must Take the Lead

Women have always shaped America’s culture at the most personal level—our homes, schools, workplaces and communities. If socialism is becoming fashionable among young voters, then the most powerful voice in restoring balance is yours.

Here is what you can do:

1. Get involved in your local elections

Most socialist candidates begin at the city-council or school-board level.

2. Talk to your kids early—and often

Don’t assume schools or social media will teach them economic reality.

3. Highlight history, not slogans

Show them the outcomes of actual socialist nations—not the promises.

4. Support candidates who value freedom, personal responsibility, and economic opportunity

Those values protect your family’s future.

5. Encourage entrepreneurship

Teaching kids how to earn, save, and invest is the strongest antidote to socialist thinking.

Socialism spreads when good people stay silent.
Freedom thrives when good people step forward.

We must hold fast to our American character and recommit to supporting transparency, fairness, limits on power, and equal treatment under the law. We must educate our youth on the dangers of Democratic Socialism and strengthen the civic participation of Americans that hold our democracy and freedoms dear.

Any political system—especially Democratic Socialism—that weakens the dignity of the individual can never sustain freedom.

America is still a place where individual hard work is rewarded with ownership of the fruits of that labor…where we are free to speak our mind, own our land and raise our children as we see fit. Let’s keep it that way.

Bibliography

Bond, K. (2025). Atlanta City Council Campaign Coverage. 11Alive; Atlanta Civic Circle; Jacobin.
Landers, A. (n.d.). The Cow Analogy for Economic Systems. Syndicated Columns.
Democratic Socialist Party Platform: https://platform.dsausa.org/.
Mamdani, Z. (2024–2025). Campaign Statements and NYC Mayoral Platform. New York State Assembly; Jacobin.
Sanchez, G. (2024). Georgia House District 42 Election Results. Ballotpedia; Wikipedia.
Sowell, T. (2015). Basic Economics. Basic Books.
Hayek, F.A. (1944). The Road to Serfdom. University of Chicago Press.
Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. University of Chicago Press.
World Bank. (2024). GDP per capita, Socialist and Post-Socialist Economies.
Heritage Foundation. (2023). Index of Economic Freedom.