Inspired by DSA Cleveland’s resolution, “Winning the Battle for Democracy,” DSA San Diego adopted the following resolution on July 28, 2024:
Whereas, the United States is run by and for the capitalist class, and this class rule takes the specific form of the liberal-constitutional regime outlined in the Constitution; and,
Whereas, the Constitution was originally imposed undemocratically by an alliance of slave owners, bankers, merchants, and landlords to secure their property in opposition to the democratic principle of “one person, one equal vote;” and,
Whereas, the political institutions established by the Constitution are intended to be an obstacle to democracy at every step, including, but not limited to the outrageously unrepresentative Senate, Amendment provisions, Electoral College, and Imperial Presidency and military; and,
Whereas, DSA’s Platform affirms that DSA is an antiracist organization dedicated to the abolition of white supremacy and equal rights for all, yet the Constitution to this day serves to deny equality and self-determination to Black, Indigenous, and other oppressed people by placing inordinate power in a handful of predominantly white, low population states; and,
Whereas, the US constitutional order similarly stands in the way of achieving any of the Platform’s other goals; and,
Whereas, the DSA Platform declares “the nation that holds itself out as the world’s premier democracy is no democracy at all” and that “Democracy is necessary to win a socialist society. Socialism is the complete realization of democracy.”
Therefore, be it resolved, San Diego DSA advocates raising the demand for a new and radically democratic constitution, drafted by an assembly of the people elected by direct, universal and equal suffrage with proportional representation.
Additionally, San Diego DSA urges DSA as a whole to take up a stance of opposition to the Constitution, openly indicting it as antidemocratic and oppressive and taking concrete actions to advance the struggle for a democratic republic, such as agitating against undemocratic judicial review, fighting for proportional representation, delegitimizing the anti-democratic Senate, and advancing the long-term demand for a democratic constitution. We declare that to be a socialist is to fight for an expansive working-class democracy in which the state and society are democratically managed by the majority. In the US this means demanding a new constitution.
Be it finally Resolved, this resolution shall be published on the San Diego DSA website.
UPDATE: DSA has since published its 2024 Workers Deserve More program, which states: “Our goal is to put workers in charge of the government through a new democratic constitution that establishes civil, political, and democratic rights for all, is based on proportional representation in a single federal legislature, and ends the role of money in politics.”
For further reading on the topic of democracy and the Constitution, see the Education Committee’s archive of recent democracy discussion group sessions.