Cowardly Congress condemns concept, rather than resolve real injustice

In a stunning display of political servitude, four New Jersey Democrats side with Republicans to condemn the boogeyman of ‘socialism’ while ignoring the very real horrors of American capitalism.

In a move that has shocked progressive advocates and revealed the deep corruption within the Democratic party, four of New Jersey’s own representatives—Herb Conaway, Josh Gottheimer, Donald Norcross, and Nellie Pou—joined 82 of their Democratic colleagues and the entire Republican caucus to pass a resolution denouncing the “horrors of socialism,” a transparently partisan and historically dishonest document.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), is a grotesque caricature of political discourse, equating the entirety of socialist thought with the brutal regimes of Stalin, Mao, and the Khmer Rouge.

It conveniently ignores the democratic socialism that has built prosperous, free societies in nations like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, choosing instead to paint any alternative to unfettered American capitalism as a one-way ticket to the gulag.

But the real story isn’t the GOP’s predictable red-scare theatrics.

It’s the sight of so-called Democrats, including New Jersey’s Conaway, Gottheimer, Norcross, and Pou, lining up to swear a loyalty oath to the very oligarchs and Wall Street titans who fund their campaigns and write their legislation.

“What they voted for was not a resolution about history—it was a ritual affirmation of state power. A pledge of loyalty to Oligarchs and Wall Street,” said Tim Hjersted, director of the media non-profit Films For Action. “It was, effectively, a loyalty oath to the economic system that keeps their donors comfortable.”

“The vote serves as a stark reminder that for a significant faction of the Democratic Party, their primary allegiance is not to the working families of New Jersey, but to the corporate donors who demand ideological conformity,” said anti-establishment progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick, who is known for her stunning performance in the 2018 primary election.

The debate was never about Stalin or Mao; it was about ensuring that any alternative to American capitalism—no matter how democratic, humane, or community-based—is publicly vilified and politically outlawed.

Let’s be clear about the “freedom” these New Jersey representatives are defending:

• It is the “freedom” for 40% of the population to be one $400 emergency away from financial ruin.
• It is the “freedom” for billionaires to buy elections and dictate public policy.
• It is the “freedom” for tens of thousands of Americans to die each year from a lack of healthcare.
• It is the “freedom” for ICE to terrorize immigrant communities, tearing families apart for the crime of working essential jobs.

“These are not deviations from capitalism. They are its everyday operations,” Hjersted noted. “They are what you get when the economy is organized around the prerogatives of capital rather than the needs of people.”

The profound irony of the resolution is its condemnation of socialism for producing “centralized, unaccountable power,” while the representatives who voted for it are wholly subservient to the enormous, centralized, and deeply unaccountable power of corporate America. When Amazon, BlackRock, or Exxon exerts control over our government, that is not freedom—it is the very tyranny this resolution pretends to oppose.

By endorsing this GOP-authored propaganda, Representatives Conaway, Gottheimer, Norcross, and Pou have made their priorities painfully clear. They would rather stand with the ghosts of Joseph Stalin than with the living, breathing idea of a Green New Deal, universal healthcare, or worker cooperatives.

They will condemn the horrors of a century ago while turning a blind eye to the deaths of despair, the ecological collapse, and the rampant inequality that their own economic system produces today.

This vote was never about protecting liberty. It was about disciplining the public imagination and policing the boundaries of acceptable thought.

The real task is not to defend socialism as a slogan, but to insist on democracy as a principle—economic as well as political. It appears that for these four New Jersey Democrats, that is a concept too radical to comprehend.