Politics For Happy People
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Politics For Happy People
Democratic Socialists Are Taking Over
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This week on Politics for Happy People, Joseph Backholm and Ashley Vaughan unpack two stories they believe reveal where America's political future may be headed. First, they discuss why Planned Parenthood is once again receiving Medicaid funding, what happened to the one-year defunding provision, and why many pro-life advocates are frustrated with Republican leadership. Then they examine the growing influence of the Democratic Socialists of America, the movement's recent electoral victories, and whether socialism is becoming the new direction of the Democratic Party. Finally, they explore new polling showing the surprising relationship between education, income, and political ideology—and what it may reveal about the country's growing political divide.
Politics For Happy People is powered by the North Carolina Values Institute. Learn more at https://ncvi.org/
Welcome to Politics for Happy People. So glad that you're with us as always. I'm Joseph back home, joined by Ashley Vaughan. Ashley, we're doing it again. Here we are. Here we are today on the program. Planned Parenthood being refunded. The Democratic Socialists of America are taking over America, or at least the Democratic Party, it seems. And there's a surprising relationship, surprising in my view, between the amount of money you don't make and the education that you have and how you vote. If that's confusing, stay tuned and we'll tell you all about it. But you do kind of want to know. But starting off, the refunding of Planned Parenthood, Ashley, is this a story that you knew about?
SPEAKER_03Yes, I did.
SPEAKER_00So what has happened is, you know, defunding Planned Parenthood has been a uh a hot button issue for people for a very long time. And in 2024, President Trump uh included a provision in the big beautiful bill eliminating Medicaid funds to health care providers who also performed abortions. The provision ended Medicaid payments to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 for Medicaid in 2023. That basically caught three organizations: Planned Parenthood, the health imperatives in Massachusetts, and Maine Family Planning. Now, the bill originally called for abortion businesses to be defunded for 10 years, but this was amended, so it only applied for one year. The reason was the Senate's reconciliation rules. Now, reconciliation bypasses the filibuster, needs only a simple majority, but a combination of the bird rule and a budget window limited how long the prohibition could run. So it lasted only one year. And now Planned Parenthood has been refunded. Ashley, how outraged are you by this?
SPEAKER_03I am upset about this. I mean, I'll probably say, you know, I'm it's seven to eight, maybe. Uh I this matters. It does matter. Um we've talked about this before, but Trump gets mixed reviews on the issue of life. Uh, certainly, though, in his second term, this Trump administration has been weak on the life issue. Uh, for example, the FDA and the DOJ, neither has taken action to stop abortion drugs from being sent in the mail, uh, which is harmful. Not only does it end the lives of unborn children, but harmful and dangerous to women. Um, earlier this year, when Congress was debating extending enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act coverage, Trump asked Republicans to be, quote, a little bit flexible on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from paying for abortion. So, you know, the question here is can federal funds go to um any entity that actually performs abortions, uh, even though it can't directly pay for an abortion? And I would definitely argue that um because of the volume of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood and the emphasis that the organization places on giving women, quote, access to abortion and their advocacy on this issue, it's impossible to segregate segregate those tax dollars that are going to Planned Parenthood for other services from the dollars that are, if not directly, then indirectly uh supporting abortion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. The you know, the Trump administration's challenges on the life issue in this in the second administration are are real. There's some procedural problems here, though, that this I think this ran into. And I'm not and and the the bird rule is basically uh something that in reconciliation is a is a budget process, and the bird rule is essentially saying you can't do a bunch of policy changes in the reconciliation process that has to be budgetary. And so that was kind of the um that's the logic and and the reason that people are saying, well, you we we wanted to do it for 10 years, but it violated our own rules to do it for 10 years in this way. That really the reason the the way the right way to do this is to actually just pass a bill um through Congress that satisf that isn't just a budget bill, it's a policy bill that says we're not going to do this anymore. And the problem is we can't do that. And so they tried to do this in the reconciliation process, but it but the 10-year provision violated their own rules. And so you only did it for one year, and now you're back to funding Planned Parenthood again.
SPEAKER_03And so um So what you're saying is you don't blame this expiration on Trump.
SPEAKER_00Well, I you know, it's the whole, I mean, the Republicans have been in control of everything, and they can't get this through, right? And and really it it runs into, in theory, the the Senate filibuster rules again. And the filibuster rules in the Senate require 60 votes to get something to the floor, which essentially means you have to sick you have to have 60 votes to pass anything rather than 50 or 51, which is the majority. And um, so yeah, it it it's frustrating that you can't get it done, um which is the reality. And so it was only defunded, it was defunded and then then uh functionally refunded. They didn't say, hey, we want to fund it again, it's just that it was only suspended for one year. So um I'm still on the you know, in the big picture, super bothered that we can't figure out a way to not do this because Planned Parenthood is not a value, it's not a helpful organization, and taxpayers should not be obligated to fund it. Um but politics are politics, and you know, politics are politics, everything seems to get stuck.
SPEAKER_03Well, this certainly has gotten stuck given the number of pro-life ballot initiatives in states that were defeated, given how the life issue polls, um, this is a very much a political issue. And it's as a Christian, that's really difficult because this is something that I am very passionate about. I don't care what the polling says, we need to defend life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um you know, it it seems like, you know, we we've had promises on this for decades, probably. No, get us elected and we'll stop defunding Planned Parenthood. And occasionally they do get elected and they still don't defund Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER_03But and they may uh do something about this expiration, correct? Or no?
SPEAKER_00What do you mean by that? This expiration.
SPEAKER_03The the expiration of the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER_00Well, you could in theory do it in another meaning reconciliation bill, you could do it for another year. Um truth is there's some details about the budget process there that I I'm not even sure of right now. So I I don't know what the status is, and and and I'm sure there are other people still working on it. But the the the headline here was, well, we're back to they get money again. Yeah, yeah. But on another, on other kind of concerning issues, uh the Democratic Socialists of America have just released their platform. Now, why do we care about this? Uh because the Democratic Socialists of America are actually having some real success politically. And I want to go through some of this. And it's not yet a total takeover, but they are having some real success that is much more than they were having five, 10 years ago, and it's worth noting. They've had a handful of clean primary wins in Colorado's first congressional district, um, in New York's 13th district, and in New York's 7th district, right? They're doing well in New York. In Washington, D.C., Councilwoman Janice Lewis George, a socialist, forcefully won the Democratic primary to replace retiring Mayor Muriel Bowser. So they're about to uh probably take over the District of Columbia in Wisconsin. State Representative Francesca Hong is currently leading in the polls for the open gubernatorial seat. So uh Wisconsin might have a Democrat Socialist of America governor. And so um state level at the state legislative level as well. Um the in New York state legislative level, the the Democratic Socialists of America picked up on several of the June 23rd primary victories. The the Democratic Socialists own tally, the uh the their back 29 candidates, and 11 of them were defeated in primary. Seven had advanced, and a further 11 are vying in primaries, still to be held. What we have is um a lot of improvement for the Democratic Socialists of America, which is why we're gonna pay some attention to their uh platform. And we have a clip where one their head, the head of the Democratic Socialists of America, recently went on um Fox News to talk to Shannon Bream. And let's talk about what their policy proposals are. Let's play clip one.
SPEAKER_02Abolish the Senate. True. Okay. Replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them. Yep. Abolish money. Absolutely. Abolish borders and give amnesty to anyone currently in the U.S. illegally. As a long-term plan, yep. Defund the Pentagon. Absolutely. Abolish prisons, at least in large part. Yeah, again, as part of a long-term program, yeah. Okay, so no prisons. Um government or public ownership of most large corporations.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Ashley, your reaction to all of that.
SPEAKER_03It's so radical. I mean, the things that she is talking about undermine basically the entire framework of our society. Things like defending the Defense Department, abolishing police, getting rid of the Senate. Um this is I mean, this is undoing the entire framework of our government. It's not just about overthrowing capitalism, which is also a problem, but they're also advocating for basically throwing out the constitution.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um, and and also notably the Zoran Mamdani is a DSA member member, and he is the mayor of New York City, right? And he just announced that he wants to have uh they're gonna have government-owned grocery stores, they're gonna sell everything at a 30% discount. The privately owned grocery stores are sure gonna love that, right? When you have you have government-funded competition. So, this when you say abolish the prisons, abolish borders, abolish the Defense Department, now the Department of War, and the people from that party are now mayors of New York City. That is a kind of ascendancy that uh we have to take note of. And of course, that's not in the general public, but it is taking over one of our major parties, and I think we have to be really alarmed. Ashley, do you think this is something that will shock people once they find out what it's about, or do they just say, oh, well, I like to share and socialists share, so let's share?
SPEAKER_03I think a lot of people don't understand how extreme this platform is. Uh I think when they see interviews like this, they will on Fox News, they will, they will start to see just how extreme the policies that they are advocating for are. Um, but they are, I think some people don't understand the implications of all this, and they just hear these democratic socialist candid candidates saying things that sound really nice and good to them, like, oh, you know, um public grocery stores and and affordable, healthy food for everyone, and universalized uh free childcare and things like that that they think sound nice, things that they think uh in society you should have a guaranteed to you. And and they're ready to jump on board because of kind of a general uh sentiment, I think, of discontent. I think young people um and swaths of our society are simply discontent. And so they're latching on to this message of do you feel discontent? Well, guess what? We have the answer. Let's just overthrow everything. And it's the people who are in power who are the problem.
SPEAKER_00Ashley, do you think a good question for you? Do you think that this kind of the embrace of socialism? And in a moment we'll kind of talk about the degree to which it's happening in the Democratic Party. Is this actually a vision of something that they want to create, that they that they understand? It's like, oh, let's go build this thing, or is it just oppositional generally in nature that we're frustrated with the current system? We see all the problems, we see power being exploited, and and and certainly it is, and we see the imperfections of the current environment. And so whatever it is that we can use to destroy that, we want to do because we're just mad about that thing.
SPEAKER_03Are they sincere about their policy proposals? Do they actually think this will work? Yeah, I don't know, but at the same time, I do think it's clear that they are capitalizing on this uh sentiment of discontent amongst people, especially young people. And, you know, they they do call themselves the party of the, you know, the working people. And, you know, you mentioned Francesca Hong, who is running for governor in Wisconsin, which interestingly um is a swing state. So, and and she is up in the polls. So, I mean, it would be so interesting if a democratic socialist ended up as governor of a swing state. But um she was interviewed and and they asked her, you know, what she understands as a former restaurant worker that career politicians do not understand. So it's this anti-establishment like, what do you understand that the politicians don't? And she said, quote, we understand their pain. I think a lot of people are in pain right now, and politicians are not honestly acknowledging that. So to me, this is um it's very strong messaging. Uh, we no one has solved your problem yet, but here we are, democratic socialists. We are gonna come in, we're gonna make something new, and we are going to solve your problem. And actually, even though a lot of these democratic socialists are running as Democrats, they're quite critical of the Democrats and the Democrat Party.
SPEAKER_00For sure. And that's kind of the the uh Zoran Mandani, it's the AOC wing of the Democratic Party, the Bernie Sanders. And Bernie Sanders used to be like, you know, crazy Uncle Bernie. Now he really is kind of uh leading the train. But you you you talked there about um the uh the the statement from uh the Wisconsin Hong, the Wisconsin governor.
SPEAKER_03Francesca Hong.
SPEAKER_00Francesca Hong, you know, the everyman, that sentiment is very similar to basically what Trump ran on.
SPEAKER_03I know.
SPEAKER_00It it's kind of this populism and the Trump co coalition really is um the everyman against the powerful people. And and that's that's who Trump leveraged, and clearly uh that's who the Democratic Socialists are also trying to leverage. They have uh, you know, different approaches, of course, but the idea And very different policies. Correct. They're the different different solutions to the problem, but there's a lot of people who recognize the sense that a lot of Americans are feeling left behind, and I want to represent you. And so I think in that way, the Democratic Socialists and Trump are leveraging the same emotions and and sense of disenfranchisement from the American dream and um saying, hey, I can solve this for you. Um, because clearly, you know, a lot of, you know, Trump has done some really good things in in, but there's still a lot of people who feel like they're struggling, still feel like they're left behind. And there's probably a number of Trump voters who are like, well, didn't that didn't work. I'm still struggling, so let's give the Democratic Socialists a try. I mean, and I don't know if that's actually true. I don't know how many like Trump to DSA voters there are. But my guess is there's gonna be some.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know. It's interesting though, because they are kind of it's a little bit of like a hostile takeover. Um, a national leader, a DSA national leader, Sarah Al-Masawi, said this. Ultimately, the strategy of the DSA has been to primary mainstream Democrats. And we're gonna continue to do that. We're gonna take it over. We're done with this. They're not meeting the American people where they are. And that was as reported by the Wall Street Journal. So they are really are capitalizing on this um discontentment and this sentiment that um the people in power are not serving you.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And there's a lot of Democrats who are are open to this. And we have another clip here uh where they were talking. CNN did some survey data and did some polling and found out just how the people who identify as Democrats feel about socialism. Let's go ahead and play that.
SPEAKER_01Winning Democratic primaries, uh candidates from the far left, and look at this here. Among Democrats, this is that Fox poll, a majority have a favorable view of socialism, step outside the Democratic Party. It's a totally different world. Look at independence, socialism deeply unpopular there.
SPEAKER_00So it for those who couldn't see the data, it's 52% of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism, 17% of non-Democrats, so that would be independents and Republicans. And clearly that's the thing the Democratic Socialists are leveraging within the Democratic Party, which is why they're starting to win some elections. Ashley, is this a trend that inevitably leads to the Democratic Socialists taking over the party?
SPEAKER_03Well, right now they have 120,000 members. So I I don't they're not great in numbers, however. But they do have compelling ideas.
SPEAKER_00Let me respond to that because yeah, they're only 120,000 in official numbers, but what the polling data that we just saw there about socialism in general suggests that 50 pro 52% of all of them like socialism, they have a favorable view of socialism. So that seems to me to suggest You're saying 52% of Democrats. Yeah, of Democrats, right. Right. And in and so even though the Democratic Socialists of America is a numerically small party, if you have 52% of everybody in the Democratic Party who says we like socialism, and then people come and say, hey, we're gonna have millionaires and billionaires taxes and government-funded um grocery stores and free health care and free daycare and free everything, a majority of the party suggests that they're very open to that. And that might persuade them. So do you actually need an official membership role of more than 120,000 people if the majority of the people in the Democratic Party are kind of for you?
SPEAKER_03Well, any both political parties, Republicans and Democrats, ultimately also have to appeal to moderates. And that's really going to be the problem.
SPEAKER_00But the question here is taking over the Democratic Party. Can the Democratic Socialists take over the Democratic Party and end up running it on a socialist platform?
SPEAKER_03I don't think so, because there are a lot of mainstream, more moderate Democrats who are not going to just lie down. Because they understand how politics work and that you have to appeal to the more moderate voter. And there have been some.
SPEAKER_00Not in primaries, you don't.
SPEAKER_03And then primaries, but in the general you do. And they don't want to throw things away to the Republicans.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but the the but well, and and do they care about that? Because right now it's just talking about primaries. And that's what the D DSA recognizes is that we can primary you and we can win. Because the activist base of the Democratic Party can win a primary being a socialist. Can you win a general election? That's a totally different conversation. But the activists don't care. They're not trying to win general elections.
SPEAKER_03But you can't take you can't take over the party without being able to win general elections, is my point.
SPEAKER_00Why not?
SPEAKER_03You can cause a whole lot of problems, but I don't think you on a long-term basis, you can't take over the prime the party. I think you can take over the party.
SPEAKER_00I don't think you can win general elections right now. But and and and that's kind of the challenge.
SPEAKER_03But what how would you measure, like, what do you mean by take over the party?
SPEAKER_00They're in control of the party. They determine the tar the party platform, the uh the who the candidates are, where the money goes. And and and that is where I think you're having that's where like, you know, Chuck Schumer is scared to death right now because he used to be a you know a far-left activist, and now he has to like, he's gonna get primaried to the left. He might not even run again because he's whether it's AOC, she's probably gonna run for president. And then I think Zaron Mamdani is probably gonna run against um uh against Chuck Schumer and kill him in the primary. And sorry, I shouldn't use that word these days. I mean, in a political sense, he's going to defeat him, right? And and I think not in not but in small numbers. And that is the thing that kind of the uh the the old school Democratic Party establishment is concerned about. It's not can I win a general election? They've already proven that. The concern now is I cannot win a primary because I'm not radical enough for all of the, you know, Harvard, Yale, pink hair, brown grads that are running the Democratic Party uh uh these days. So I mean, I am I am I I think you're being prac practical about general elections, but I think there's actually um reason to be concerned if you are a Democrat right now that the Democratic socialists are going to be driving the train. Because remember, where was Bernie, where was Bernie 10, 15 years ago? He was just like that crazy guy out there, and now he is the heartbeat of that party. And his nomination or his endorsement matters a ton. So I think they could pull it off.
SPEAKER_03We'll see. We'll certainly continue to follow this. It's I think they're they have gotten this string of wins uh recently, and especially in these primaries. But if they can't win in general elections, I don't think that this is going to be a long-lived uh movement. So we will see.
SPEAKER_00Do they I mean we'll see, and that is the that that is a it's a great question and it has to be considered, but I'm not sure right now they care. Right now they want control of the apparatus and they think they can make all of America more socialist um it once they have it. And I hope that's not true. I mean, oh let's destroy the Senate, right? Let's add more states, let's expand the Supreme Court. Yeah, it is a it is a fundamental re fundamental rewiring of our of our system. But one other, I mean, this is a relevant data point that I think we need to consider in all of this is a is some research that we just saw from Silver Bulletin. Nate Silver, I think he does the actual research, but how income and education affect presidential voting. And I think this is relevant to our conversation that we're having right now about whether the Democratic Socialists of America are going to take over the Democratic Party and uh then maybe even win some elections. And this research tracked how you voted for president based on the amount of education that you have and how much money that you make. And historically, in my lifetime, Ashley, it's always been that the um the Republicans were kind of the rich people, and the Democrats were the working class people. That has that situation has very much been inverted. But when you layer education over this as well, um it adds another element. Um Do you have an opinion? I don't maybe you've even seen the research already, but does education now today make you more likely to vote for Democrats or more likely to vote for Republicans?
SPEAKER_03More education means you're more likely to vote Democrat, I believe.
SPEAKER_00And and that it that is true. And there's a bit of a chicken and egg question here, maybe that we can ask.
SPEAKER_03Is I do think the education Well, I think that was one of the biggest predictors in 2024. Right. About whether you were going to be a Trump voter or not was your level of education.
SPEAKER_00But there's this unique thing that has been discovered that those the the most likely demographic to vote for Democrats are people who have a lot of education and not very much money. 70% of people with a postgraduate degree who make between $30,000 and $60,000 a year, so that's not a lot of money. That is the most reliable voting demographic for the Democratic Party. And at the same time, the least likely are those who have a high school or less degree who make $60,000 and above. And in some cases, like $200,000 above. If you have a only a high school degree and you make more than $200,000 a year, you are 60% likely to be voting for Republicans. But if you have if you make less than $60,000 and have a graduate degree, you are 70% likely to be voting for Democrats. How do you interpret this, Ashley?
SPEAKER_03A couple of things. The first is I can see we just sort of talked about how the Democrat Socialists of America is sort of capitalizing on this sentiment of uh things aren't going well and a sense of discontent. And I can surely see why someone who has a great amount of education and potentially, you know, debt from that education, who can't make a living, that um can't get can't get much of a job. Can't get a job, is is struggling to make ends meet, how that person would feel discontent. Um I also think that it reminds me of sort of the um the philosopher versus the traveler kind of trope. You know, the philosophers up in the tower and kind of thinking, oh, how should things work? Whereas the traveler is actually down on the ground going on the journey, doing the work, understands kind of the realities of life. Um, you know, someone who's never, someone who has a high school or less uh education and yet they're making over $200,000 a year. Some of these groups, they've they've worked very, very hard to get where they are and um and they don't want that money confiscated um by the government, you know, by socialists.
SPEAKER_00In the government in the meritocracy, right? I mean, and for them the system is working. It's like I have the opportunity here.
SPEAKER_03Yes. So I think um I think we've got a lot of in this uh 70% here, we've got a lot of like the philosophers, right? Who um who you know they've they have these ideas, right? That's this is what I think of when I think of socialism. Like, let's just give everyone free health care because that's what they deserve, and free childcare and and free everything. Like that's but someone's got to pay for that, you know, at the end of the day. And so um that's what I think is going on here. I don't know. What do you think?
SPEAKER_00This data seems to suggest that kind of the um, you know, the the the jealousy, what's the word I'm looking for when you want cut the it's a covetous worldview where you have people who have spent a lot of time in school but didn't develop any marketable skills and therefore can't make much money. Um, you know, there's again a bit of a chicken and egg question for me that if you went to a lot of school and didn't develop a marketable skill, um, do progressives make those choices? Or does finding yourself in a place where I spend a ton of time in school, but I still can't make any money, does that turn me into a progressive? I have a feeling that the value system that says I'm gonna go spend $300,000 on a gender studies degree and I'm not gonna be able to do anything with it. I think you were already kind of a leftist, so you already liked socialism, and certainly your gender studies program turned you even into more of that. Um and so I'm not sure, but but it is certainly a worldview. It it is a it is a resentment of people who do better than me, even though, and I think there's this elitism that because I went to college, I'm smarter and I'm better, and I have these degrees. And when you are not, when you see other people who did not get all those degrees and do all the things that the important people said you're supposed to do end up being more successful, I think that does build resentment and um kind of feeds a little bit the um, you know, the culture war against like blue-collar, normal engineering, plumber, just kind of um people. Um and um leftism really is elitist now. And I think they want to be in the elite, but they don't feel like they're in the elite because they're not doing that well. And uh, you know, I don't know. It it's uh it just is. It it's an interesting data point that I think does explain why um they want somebody else to do it for them. And I I've not been able to succeed making my own money, so let's just have somebody else give me the stuff that I want. And so go socialism.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and we're gonna go more. I mean, I think learning in higher education, there is so much value in learning for learning's sake and exploring ideas and the liberal arts and all of that. But when someone's been in school for a very, very long time and then they come out and they face kind of a harsh reality, and as as you put it, they don't have marketable skills, they can't find their place in the society, uh, that becomes really dis difficult. And they start looking at society and saying, what's wrong with society?
SPEAKER_00Um correct, because it's never my fault. And that is the and in the you know, that's that that's one of the things we have to always understand about leftism is it's never my fault. It's always the system's fault. And so we're always going to change the system because I'm just fine. And that's what I've been telling myself since kindergarten. And uh, if that's if that's your starting premise, you know, there's a long list of people you can blame. It will never end. And you'll you know, you won't come around to changing yourself soon. But that's kind of what socialism is. Give me the stuff I want because I want it. So, friends, I think we've done it for today. Um, we'll track whether we're all gonna know whether the Democratic Socialists take over the Democratic Party or not. Um, and I think I maybe more think it's more likely than you do, Ashley. We'll see who is right. We'll keep following it. Friends, thank you for joining us today on politics for happy people. It's been our pleasure. Quick reminder that new episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday. Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you have found us, and we will see you there.