Over the last year, the United States has seen an unprecedented rise in socialist candidates winning elections and being embraced by the Democrat Party. This movement is nothing new. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), most famously, has held public office for decades. But we should remember how differently the Democrat establishment treated him just 10 years ago. During his presidential campaigns, Sanders faced enormous resistance from party leaders and was treated as an outsider challenging the party’s direction.

Today, the opposite is happening. Socialist candidates are increasingly becoming central figures within the Democrat coalition, while those who openly challenge the socialist wing risk alienating a growing part of the party’s base.

The party of Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is quickly becoming the party of Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

What makes this development concerning is not simply the word socialist. It is the fundamentally different view of government and political power that increasingly accompanies the Democratic Socialists of America movement.

The American system begins with a fundamental distrust of concentrated power. That principle separates constitutional government from governments that merely promise rights on paper.

Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution formally guarantees citizens freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession, and demonstration. Yet those promises obviously do not guarantee the freedoms Americans........

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