This is not the Democratic Party of our parents or grandparents.

If you have been paying attention to primary elections across the United States, you have probably noticed the growing influence of democratic socialists within Democratic politics.

Several candidates affiliated with or backed by the Democratic Socialists of America have won Democratic nominations this year, including congressional candidates in New York and Colorado.

The DSA is not the Democratic Party, nor is it itself a political party. It is a socialist activist organization whose endorsed candidates frequently run in Democratic primaries. Still, its growing electoral success has created a debate about the direction of the Democratic Party.

That is a significant change worth watching.

DSA’s current national program calls for Medicare for All, tuition-free public higher education, a Green New Deal and greater public and worker control of parts of the economy. It also advocates stronger labor protections and a higher minimum wage.

On foreign policy, DSA takes an anti-interventionist position, calls for ending U.S. military and economic aid to Israel and strongly supports the Palestinian cause.

There are significant differences between the two major political parties today, and there are also differences between mainstream Democrats and the democratic-socialist wing.

Democrats generally support abortion rights, while Republicans generally favor greater restrictions on abortion. However, views and proposed exceptions vary within both parties.

Democrats generally support stricter gun regulations, including expanded background checks and restrictions on certain weapons. At the same time, Republicans place greater emphasis on Second Amendment protections.

DSA supports higher minimum wages, stronger labor protections and substantial government investment in public services.

Republicans generally favor lower taxes, fewer regulations and policies they believe will encourage private-sector growth. The Republican platform also emphasizes increased domestic energy production, including oil, natural gas and coal.

On health care, DSA supports Medicare for All. Democrats more broadly have generally supported protecting or expanding the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid. Meanwhile, Republicans have traditionally placed greater emphasis on private insurance, competition and market-based approaches.

Immigration presents another sharp difference.

DSA’s current program calls for abolishing ICE, ending immigration detention and deportations, granting amnesty to immigrants regardless of status and providing pathways to citizenship.

Republicans have made stronger border enforcement and deportation central parts of their national platform. Democrats also say the border should be secured, but generally support expanded legal immigration and pathways to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants.

Energy policy matters especially to people in our region.

DSA’s Green New Deal calls for a transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy while supporting workers in fossil-fuel industries. Whatever assurances are made about that transition, people in coal-producing areas have reason to pay close attention when political movements propose moving the country away from fossil fuels.

These programs also cost money.

DSA proposes paying for an expanded public sector in part by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, corporations, large inheritances and certain private institutions, along with imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans.

Whether voters believe those taxes and programs would improve the country is another question entirely.

Nothing the government provides is truly free. Someone ultimately pays for it through taxes or other government revenue.

Many of our parents and grandparents were Democrats. They grew up during the Great Depression or World War II.

Franklin D. Roosevelt led the country through most of the Great Depression and World War II and built a powerful political coalition around the New Deal. Other influential Democratic presidents included Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy.

It is not difficult to understand why generations of working families remained loyal Democrats.

But the Democratic Party has changed since those days, just as the Republican Party has changed.

Today, democratic socialists represent a growing faction on the Democratic Party’s left.

Among prominent elected officials affiliated with DSA are U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom first entered Congress in 2019, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office Jan. 1, 2026.

Other DSA-backed candidates have won Democratic primaries this year and will appear on ballots in November.

Some are running in heavily Democratic districts where winning the primary may prove to have been the greater political hurdle. Others will have to persuade general-election voters that their ideas are right for the country.

That debate is healthy.

Voters should know exactly what candidates believe, what policies they support and what those policies could mean for their communities.

The debate between Democrats and Republicans — and increasingly between different factions within those parties — involves fundamental questions about the proper role of government, the free market, individual rights, social programs and traditional institutions.

This country has liberals, conservatives and plenty of people somewhere in between.

In the end, voters have to look beyond party labels and decide what makes sense to them.

We should hope and pray that Americans continue to debate those differences freely and that our country remains strong.

Our future depends on it.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the newspaper’s management, staff or ownership. We encourage a diversity of perspectives and foster open dialogue on important issues, but these opinions are solely the responsibility of the contributors.