Are you a Democratic Socialist?

They want to abolish prisons. Wait, what? They want public ownership of the means of production. Ah, hell no. They want to rewrite all the laws in the U.S. Constitution? Where is this coming from? What's up, guys? Franklin Camargo here. Welcome to A New Man on the Street. The Democratic Socialists of America seem to be gaining momentum among young people. But do they really know what the DSA stands for? And if they did, would they actually support it? We are here at CSUN in Los Angeles, California, to find out. So, have you heard of the DSA or Democratic Socialists of America? I, uh, have a little bit. I've not. Not really? No. When I tell you the name, Democratic Socialists of America, what do you think about? I just think about, like, that sounds smart. There's a lot of interesting things that they stand for. What are your thoughts on socialism? Like being social? Like, um, socializing? The political and economic ideology. Socialism. I don't even know what that is. I think I like the word democratic, but socialist, most likely not. From what I understand, they're also an organization here at CSUN. It's kind of popular. They want to abolish prisons. Wait, what? I don't know. That's not good. I don't agree with that. Why? Because I feel like if you did the crime, you should do the time. The American prison system is extremely corrupt. And I think more often than not, it perpetuates systems of injustice. But you can't just abolish prison systems. Prisons aren't really good, I mean. But they are to help change people's lives, even though it doesn't seem like it, you know? Like El Salvador, you've seen how they didn't have any prisons over there, right? And they made that one big prison for all the gang members. You see how it really changed El Salvador from being a really violent country? Where do you think DSA advocates would like to send prisoners to, or criminals to? Not even prisoners, because they cannot be prisoners if they are not prisons at all. I have no idea. Second thing, they want public ownership of the means of production. What is that? The non-human physical assets or inputs to produce goods and services. So like the factories, tools, stuff like that. They want the government to own that. What do you think about that? It kind of depends what they decide to do with that. Is it for the good of the people, or is it going to be bad? Because it wouldn't really change my life. Tell me your favorite brand. Okay, let's just go with Nike. Okay, you like Nike, right? You think the government in Washington D.C. is going to be able to design better shoes? Absolutely not, of course not. So your life would be worse off? Yes. So if I create a business and it becomes big, they want someone else to take my business and all the credit that I did for it, like all the hard work? Correct. Because they are going to say that you are too greedy and evil, even though you risk your time, money, you employ people, and you produce goods that are valuable to a lot of individuals. So you like that? No. No, hell no. They should not do that because imagine you work so hard on something and someone just steals it like that. Another policy that they are advocating for is that they want to rewrite or replace the U.S. Constitution. Do you agree with that? Why? Because they want to change the entire system. They think this is a bad country, it's an evil country, and they want to change it entirely. Nah, I mean, the Constitution lasted for so many years. If you rewrite it, we might as well not even be called the United States of America. Where is this coming from? Who are they from? That's a great question. So a lot of them are Americans, of course, but they admire foreign countries that do not like America. Let me give you an example. The D.S.A. sends their affiliates to Cuba. 90% of the Cuban population lives in poverty. The average Cuban is not able to find food or medicine. They actually risk their lives to make it to the U.S. And, I mean, they're telling you what they want. If they admire Cuba, they want Cuba. Boo, Castro. So far it's not really sounding that good, you know? It's basically like trying to flip America upside down, you know? If Cuba doesn't have the opportunity like I have, I want to, I guess, not take it for granted. Even though there is a struggle here, it is not as bad as the struggle, say, in Cuba. And I think it's just people don't understand the privilege they have to live in this country, even if they are struggling. Well, it seems like most people don't want to abolish prisons, rewrite the U.S. Constitution, or make America more like Cuba. Thank you for watching this video. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time.