What DSA’s Official Program Actually Says

The Democratic Socialists of America now openly backs a platform that would abolish prisons, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and even the presidency, and replace America’s constitutional order with something entirely different.

Story Snapshot

Democratic Socialists of America leaders confirm a platform to abolish the Senate, presidency, Supreme Court, and prisons.
The official program calls for scrapping the Electoral College and replacing core institutions with a powerful single legislature.
Supporters frame this as “real democracy,” while critics see an assault on the Founders’ checks and balances.
The fight over this platform previews a deeper clash over what kind of country America will be in the next generation.

DSA moves its dream from fringe essays to formal platform

The Democratic Socialists of America is not just tweeting about radical change; it has written that change into a formal governing blueprint. The group’s “Workers Deserve More” program calls for a new political order that ends the two-party system, expands the House of Representatives, and outright abolishes the United States Senate. That is not a loose slogan from a campus protest. It is language posted on the organization’s own program site and backed by its national leadership.

National co-chair Megan Romer has now said the quiet part out loud on national television. When a Fox News host read through a list of goals — abolish the Senate, replace the presidency and Supreme Court, abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, open the border, defund the Pentagon, and abolish prisons — Romer answered “true.” She did not walk it back, hedge, or blame staff. She claimed these sweeping moves were part of a long-term plan to fix what the left sees as deep inequality.

A blueprint to replace the presidency and Supreme Court

The official Democratic Socialists of America program does not stop with the Senate. It calls for getting rid of the Electoral College and replacing the President and Supreme Court with “an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.” In plain English, that means no independent executive branch and no high court able to strike down laws. One elected body, shaped by proportional voting rules, would dominate the entire federal structure.

The group’s political platform, hosted by allied activists, adds more detail. It argues for a second constitutional convention to write “founding documents of a new socialist democracy,” with a parliamentary-style system instead of America’s current separation of powers. That same text calls for “limiting the power of the undemocratic judiciary” by adding Supreme Court seats to break the current conservative majority and by reshaping lower courts so they mirror national political trends. The message is clear: when the left cannot control an institution, it moves to change or replace that institution.

From ‘end mass incarceration’ to abolition of the carceral state

Crime and punishment sit at the center of this vision. The Democratic Socialists of America program pledges to “fully abolish the police and prison system which protects the rich and jails the poor,” and to treat addiction and mental illness as health issues instead of crimes. That phrase “fully abolish” is not an accident. It reflects a broader push on the hard left to replace traditional policing and incarceration with social services, restorative justice, and broad decriminalization.

The more detailed platform language is even more blunt. It calls for “freedom for all incarcerated people” and “decarceration and eventual abolition of the carceral state.” It urges ending pre-trial detention, shutting down local jails, stopping prison expansion, and removing nearly all limits on organizing, protests, and labor action by inmates. It also pushes nationwide “Ban the Box” rules to block employers and schools from considering criminal history when they make decisions on jobs, housing, or education.

Prisons, borders, and the Pentagon in the crosshairs

Romer’s interview underscored how wide this agenda stretches. She affirmed support for abolishing national borders, granting amnesty to people in the country illegally, and moving toward abolishing prisons over time. She paired those goals with calls to defund the Pentagon and place most large corporations under public or government ownership. For many Americans, especially conservatives, that mix sounds less like reform and more like a plan to uproot the entire system they grew up with.

Supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America insist these are “democracy” measures, not power grabs. They argue that the Senate gives small states too much clout, that the Electoral College thwarts the popular will, and that life-tenured judges block needed change. From that lens, abolishing or neutering these bodies is a way to make each vote count equally and to stop what they call “minority rule.” The problem, from a common-sense conservative view, is that their cure would erase the protections that keep momentary majorities from steamrolling everyone else.

Why this platform matters far beyond DSA’s membership rolls

The Democratic Socialists of America is not a mass party, but it punches above its weight in shaping the left wing of the Democratic Party. Some of its members already sit in Congress, and activists use this platform as a north star when bargaining inside city councils, school boards, and party committees. Even when mainstream Democrats distance themselves in public, these ideas keep tugging the conversation left, especially among younger urban voters.

For conservatives and moderates, this platform is a warning label. A movement that openly calls to abolish the Senate, presidency, Supreme Court, prisons, borders, and traditional policing is not making small adjustments; it is seeking a different country. The debate now is whether voters see that contrast clearly. Because the more the Democratic Socialists of America says the quiet part out loud, the easier it becomes for defenders of the Constitution to explain what is at stake and why checks, balances, and the rule of law still matter.