Patricia Murphy’s take on Democratic Socialists of America galvanizes readers
A few weeks ago, my colleague, AJC politics columnist Patricia Murphy, wrote a column titled “The Democratic Socialists of America believe what??”
She spoke to the tensions within the Democratic Party pitting mainstream candidates with a faction that wants to take the party further left.
There is one democratic socialist in the Georgia General Assembly (Rep. Gabriel Sanchez) and one on the Atlanta City Council (Councilor Kelsea Bond), but Republicans have made the growing national prominence of democratic socialists in the 2026 elections an issue, equating it with communism being on the rise.
That’s why Murphy wanted to explain the DSA platform. “[I]t’s worth your time to more fully understand why the DSA is on the rise and what they would do if they ever got everything they want. Maybe you’ll agree with them. Maybe not. But you should at least know what the increasingly powerful bloc on the left stands for,” she wrote.
Readers had opinions — more than most issues I’ve seen during my time as AJC opinion editor. Below, find a selection of voices from across Georgia with strong feelings about the DSA and how Murphy framed the organization and its plank.
DSA appeals to Georgians disappointed with status quo
Patricia Murphy’s column on the Democratic Socialists of America identifies a political development and then avoids the obvious question: Why is it happening?
DSA’s national platform offers plenty worth debating, criticizing or rejecting. But Murphy reduces ideas like public ownership to “Chick-fil-A-USA” and dismisses ambitious structural proposals as self-evidently ridiculous. Her analysis is paper-thin while her condescension is impossible to miss.
Georgians keep struggling to afford housing, childcare, groceries, healthcare and other necessities. Many working people do everything asked of them and still cannot achieve economic security, much less the dignity and stability they expected that hard work would provide.
Murphy’s own reporting describes Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, D-Smyrna, as a thoughtful legislator who advocates for renters and wage workers, and Atlanta City Councilmember Kelsea Bond as willing to challenge waste at City Hall. Those examples tell us way more about DSA’s appeal in Georgia than a cheap joke about government-run Chick-fil-A.
The interesting story is not that democratic socialists hold positions many Georgians will reject. Of course they do. It is that a growing number of voters no longer believe the political and economic status quo is working for them.
Sneering at voters’ search for answers while showing little curiosity about the conditions producing the questions is intellectually lazy.
If the AJC wants to understand why people are losing faith in established institutions, it might examine its own instinct to meet economic anxiety with a punchline. Readers are not disengaging because they failed to get the joke.
Caricature is not scrutiny.
ISABEL OTERO, AUBURN, GA
Humane governance is possible in Georgia
Patricia Murphy has watched Georgia’s merciless lawmakers turn down plans to expand Medicaid, say no to millions of federal dollars, shrug as rural hospitals close and concoct punitive work requirements for many who are already employed — often for rich companies.
She has seen such punitive policies enacted year after year. However, more humane approaches are possible and actually exist in places outside Georgia.
Universal healthcare can be a priority, an option chosen by governments who care about the well-being of their people.
Unlike the folks currently running Georgia.
JERELYN JORDAN, ATLANTA
Democratic socialists want to burn system down
Letter writer Isabel Otero (first letter) objects to Patricia Murphy’s dismissal of the Democratic Socialists of America, focusing on why some Americans are disillusioned today. She states: “A growing number of voters no longer believe the political and economic status quo is working for them.” Fair enough, but this does not make the DSA’s platform remotely serious or credible.
Imagine if a homeowner had a floor repair issue to address but became so frustrated that she said, “Forget fixing the floor. I’m just going to burn the house down and go live in a free castle.” That is basically the DSA response, addressing concerns by burning the whole system down to pursue a fantasy. Of course, things are made much worse when the free castle turns out to be an expensive, tattered tent. Socialism always fails.
Shockingly, a Quinnipiac poll published on Sept. 10 shows that 59% of Democrats who responded now are DSA supporters. The DSA’s platform of utter nonsense is fast becoming mainstream on the left.
DANA R. HERMANSON, MARIETTA
Columnist fails to explain DSA appeal
AJC Politics columnist Patricia Murphy’s opinion piece does not clearly explain what DSA believes or why it resonates with voters. Murphy chooses charged terms from the DSA platform rather than risk mentioning the organization’s broadly popular policy prescriptions.
The article mentions abolishing the police, which appears in the “ending mass-incarceration” section of the platform as a long-term goal. To end mass incarceration, the DSA proposes demilitarizing police departments; redirecting funds to public services; treating addiction as a health issue, not criminal; ending qualified immunity and empowering civilian oversight of police departments as first steps. Despite being popular policies candidates run on, the article conveniently omits them.
The puzzling framing continues when Murphy excludes DSA pillars such as a living wage, canceling student debt, free school from pre-K to college, Medicare for All, and a free Palestine from the organization’s “biggest goals.” Instead of broadly popular policies, the piece highlights nebulous goals such as abolishing capitalism (does anyone know what that means?).
Subsequently, it becomes easy to give credence to Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon’s misunderstanding of the DSA as “outliers,” and it leaves readers without a working understanding of why the DSA has surged in popularity and what candidates have actually run on.
HARRISON TAYLOR JR., NORCROSS
Are Democrats working to save democracy, or end it?
Patricia Murphy’s column ended by noting that Democrats currently running for public office and Georgia party officials said they were not part of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Democrats spent the past year assuring us they were “working to save democracy.” The article suggests DSA wants to end democracy. If candidates on a Democratic ballot want to save democracy and others want to end democracy, how is a voter to know what part of the big tent they are voting for? Asking for a friend.
BILL CAVIN, MCDONOUGH
Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor of 250 words or fewer to letters@ajc.com and include your name and city or town.
David Plazas, opinion editor of the AJC, curated this roundup of letters, many which previously ran in past Readers Write letters to the editor articles. Email him at david.plazas@ajc.com.