DAVID DUHALDE

I love the sayings: “You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts” and “to assume makes an ass out of “u” (you) and me.”  These two quotes popped into my mind after reading comments on an article covering a BGSU-Firelands Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) rally against censorship.  Normally, I ignore ad hominem and ignorant arguments against YDS and its ideology, but in this case because of the issue of human rights, I believe a response is merited.

The comments below the article on the Sandusky Register online were standard, slanderous criticisms of YDS and democratic socialism.  They ranged from calling someone “not young” because they were 29 years old (YDS is open those under 31 or full-time students), accusing us of being hypocrites on free speech because of totalitarianism in China and Cuba (despite our criticism of these states on human rights grounds), and wrongly assuming we are an electoral political party (we are an activist organization/non-profit). 

Evidently, many commentators never bothered to check out the Democratic Socialists of America (YDS’s parent organization) or YDS’s websites.  The websites feature many links to short and long documents clearly outlining our ideology and place on the socialist Left.  I found the implications on YDS and human rights especially important to address.

In any major YDS document on our political beliefs, it’s clear that we emphasize that we are democrats with a small “d” as well as socialists.  Democratic socialists have been principled opponents of the oppressive and autocratic natures of “Marxist-Leninist” states and the parties that rule Cuba and China.  We believe that all people should have the right to political and social freedoms alongside the right to economic security; this distinguishes us from conservatives and liberals who oppose (or just cannot conceive of) economic democracy and from Communists who would replace representative democracy with one-party rule.

The problem here lies that we live the most anti-socialist country in the “free world” outside of Taiwan.  Socialism, its history and varieties are not discussed in American public schools.  Without a strong socialist movement, most Americans will never learn that democratic socialists do not support Communist regimes and that our means and goals are not anti-democratic.

While ignorance is forgivable, one is still accountable for one’s writing.  Clearly no one who compared us (democratic socialists) to Marxist-Leninists had bothered to research what our beliefs are.  Whatever happened to the good old conservative ethos of “personal responsibility”?

Furthermore, the right-wing populism and anti-intellectualism ran more rampant than the anticommunism in the comments.  Some attacked Pat Saunders, a professor, for protesting “instead of” working and others wrote those who lecture in college cannot teach.  Of course, Saunders did not boycott his job; he was there on his own free time.  The denunciation of higher degree holders reflects the power of anti-intellectualism to comfort conservatives when their ideas are challenged.  When these right-wingers were unable to counter with a reasoned argument, they resorted to personal attacks on intelligence.

The demagogic power of anti-intellectualism will always be a basis of attacking not only socialism, but any reforms with even the semblance of a democratic and egalitarian ethos.  Gov. Sarah Palin represented the worse of “mainstream” American jingoism and right-wing populism in the past presidential cycle.  She was selected to help push working-class and poor voters against Barack Obama, whose moderate economic agenda and distinguishing ethnic heritage threatened social conservatives and certain segments of corporate America. 

I encourage everyone to look at www.dsausa.org and www.ydsusa.org for more information on what democratic socialists think and do.  Make sure to talk to your friends of all political stripes in order to educate them.  It’s the only way we can fight the conservative and corporate narratives that dominate America.