I am going to try really hard not to make this political, which is already a dumb thing to say because the topic is politics. When talking about politics, it sometimes feels like common sense is the first thing to be thrown out the window. That is like saying, “I am going to try not to get wet,” while standing in the lazy river with a bucket of margarita in your hand.
But I mean it. This is not really about Democrats or Republicans. It is not about red team versus blue team, or whatever color we are supposed to be mad at this week. I am tired of that part. Everyone is tired of that part. Even the people who say they love politics look like they need a nap and a sandwich.
This is about common sense. Or more accurately, what happens when common sense leaves the room, gets in an Uber, deletes the app, and refuses to come back.
The rise of the DSA and the larger socialist movement in American politics should not be ignored. I am obviously not a fan. That should not surprise anyone who knows me. I believe in work. I believe in ownership. I believe in personal responsibility. I believe you help people when they need help, but you do not build an entire system around pretending effort, risk, sacrifice, bad decisions, good decisions, and dumb luck should all cash out the same at the end.
That is not compassion. That is a group project where the kid who did nothing still wants his name on the PowerPoint.
The scary part is not that people want change. I get that. A lot of people are frustrated, and they have every right to be. Housing is expensive. Healthcare is a disaster. Groceries now require a financing department. You walk into the store for eggs, coffee, and paper towels, and somehow leave feeling like you just co-signed a boat.
Young people look around and wonder how they are supposed to build the same kind of life their parents had. They see debt, rent, insurance, taxes, and a job market that seems to require ten years of experience for an entry-level job. That frustration is real. I am not mocking that. I understand why the message lands.
Where I get off the train is when the answer becomes: tear everything down, punish success, grow government, and pretend the people running the new system will magically be smarter, kinder, fairer, and less corrupt than the people running the old one.
That is where I struggle.
Because I have seen big systems from the inside. I have worked in huge organizations. I have seen bureaucracy up close. I have seen what happens when nobody owns the outcome, but everyone owns a title. The more layers you add, the less accountable things get. The more committees you create, the more common sense dies in a conference room named after a tree.
And now the big idea is more of that?
No thanks. I already have enough meetings in my life. I do not need the DMV becoming my life coach.
The sales pitch is easy. Free this. Free that. Cancel this. Tax them. Regulate that. Make someone else pay. It sounds great until you realize there is no “someone else.” Eventually the bill shows up. It always does. The bill is undefeated.
And it never shows up at the billionaire’s house first.
It shows up in the middle class. It shows up in small businesses. It shows up in higher prices, fewer jobs, worse service, more paperwork, and another government website that only works in Internet Explorer if Mercury is in retrograde. It shows up as another form, another rule, another office, another delay, another reason you cannot just build something, fix something, start something, or move forward without asking permission from someone who has never actually done the thing.
That is the part people do not put on the campaign poster.
Nobody runs on, “Vote for me, and I will make your life slightly more expensive and much more annoying.” Although honestly, I would respect the honesty.
The thing that bothers me most is how easy it is to teach people to see themselves mainly as victims of a system instead of people with agency inside a hard world. Yes, systems matter. Yes, some people start with advantages. Yes, some people get crushed by things outside their control. Pretending otherwise is lazy.
But if the message is always “you are powerless until the government fixes it,” then we are not empowering people. We are training them to wait. We are turning grown adults into customers at the Complaint Department of Life, holding number 47 while the screen has been stuck on 12 for three hours.
That is not hope. That is dependency dressed up like justice.
I wish we could have an honest conversation without everyone immediately running to their assigned corner. We can admit healthcare is too expensive without pretending the government should run every part of life. We can admit housing is a mess without pretending private property is evil. We can care about working people without acting like every business owner is a cartoon villain tying someone to railroad tracks.
Most people are not asking for some grand ideological revolution. They want normal things. They want roads that work, schools that teach, cities that are safe, jobs that pay, and leaders who do not sound like they were built in a lab by interns from the Department of Buzzwords.
That should not be radical.
Somehow it is.
The DSA movement is growing because it is speaking directly to frustration. That part matters. Dismissing every supporter as lazy, dumb, or evil is a mistake. A lot of them are reacting to real pain. The problem is that pain does not automatically make the proposed solution good.
If your house is on fire, I understand why you want help. I do not understand why the answer is to hand the hose to the guy who wants to redesign water.
Bad diagnosis is dangerous. Bad treatment is worse.
I do not want America to become a place where success is treated like theft, ambition is treated like oppression, and government is treated like the parent of last resort. I do not want my kids growing up believing the goal is to be managed by the state from cradle to grave. I want them to be free, capable, resilient, and dangerous in the best possible way.
I want them to build things. I want them to question things. I want them to help people. I want them to be generous without being gullible, kind without being weak, and smart enough to know that every “free” thing comes with a receipt eventually.
I also want them to understand that nobody owes them a perfect life. That sounds harsh now, because we have gotten weird about telling the truth. But it is not harsh. It is freeing. Once you stop waiting for the world to become fair before you start moving, you can actually start building a life.
That does not mean we ignore people who are struggling. It does not mean we turn into cold, selfish jerks who say “bootstraps” every time someone gets punched in the face by life. We should help people. We should fix broken things. We should have a safety net.
But a safety net is supposed to catch you.
It is not supposed to become a hammock, a lifestyle brand, and a voting strategy.
So no, I am not a fan of where this is going. I do not like the direction. I do not like the language. I do not like the casual hatred of success. I do not like the idea that giving more power to the same type of people who already make everything harder is somehow going to make life easier.
But I am also not interested in just yelling “socialism bad” and calling it a day. That is too easy, and frankly, it is lazy. The real question is why the message is working. Why are people so frustrated that this sounds reasonable to them? Why do so many young people feel like the old deal is broken? Why do they not believe hard work still gets you somewhere?
Those questions matter.
The answer has to be better than slogans. It has to be better leadership, better ideas, stronger families, stronger communities, more opportunity, less nonsense, and a return to basic common sense. People need a reason to believe that building something still matters. That owning something still matters. That working hard still matters. That taking responsibility for your life is not some outdated concept from a motivational poster in a 1990s break room.
Because when people stop believing that, they will reach for anything that sounds like a rescue plan.
Even if it comes with chains.
That is the part we should be paying attention to.
