Congratulations, Facebook Avengers. You Have Discovered Roads

Jake Silver criticized the Democratic Socialists of America, and suddenly Facebook became an economics seminar.

My pal Jake Silver wrote an article, “DSA Says It Wants More Democracy. Its Own Program Tells a Different Story,” arguing that people should take the Democratic Socialists of America seriously.

Naturally, Facebook responded with the intellectual equivalent of throwing mashed potatoes.

“You take Social Security!”

“You drive on public roads!”

“What about public schools?”

Ah yes. Roads. The Achilles’ heel of capitalism.

Since we’re apparently conducting Economics 101 through Facebook memes, let’s deal with these arguments one at a time.

First came the claim that democratic socialists are really capitalists who want to restrain capitalism’s excesses.

There is one problem: DSA itself says otherwise.

DSA’s website says capitalism should be replaced by democratic socialism and says major economic sectors, including energy and transportation, should be collectively owned.[1]

Its constitution similarly describes an economic system involving popular control of resources and production, as well as economic planning.[2]

That does not mean every person calling himself a democratic socialist holds identical views. But if your philosophy is “keep capitalism, regulate it and maintain a large welfare state,” you are describing something much closer to social democracy.

DSA’s own youth organization makes that distinction. It defines social democracy as extensive regulation and welfare programs used to manage capitalism, while democratic socialism requires much more fundamental changes to capitalist institutions.[3]

Then comes my favorite:

“But you’re going to take Social Security!”

Well, yes.

Workers are required to pay Social Security payroll taxes. In 2026, employees pay 6.2 percent of covered wages for Social Security, while employers contribute another 6.2 percent.[4]

This is not a tip jar.

Try telling the federal government, “No thanks, I have philosophical objections,” and see where that gets you.

Social Security is not an individual retirement account. Current payroll taxes largely finance current benefits. President George W. Bush actually proposed allowing younger workers to voluntarily place part of their payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts invested under regulated guidelines. Congress never enacted the proposal.[5]

But collecting a Social Security benefit after spending your career paying mandatory payroll taxes does not prove that you support collective ownership of American industry.

It proves you want your Social Security check.

Then comes the nuclear argument:

ROADS!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I drive on roads.

I also buy gasoline in Maryland.

Effective July 1, 2026, Maryland’s gasoline tax is 46.6 cents per gallon.[6] The federal gasoline excise tax adds another 18.4 cents, bringing those two taxes to 65 cents per gallon.[7]

So Interstate 695 is not arriving as a complimentary gift with my morning coffee.

More importantly, government-provided infrastructure does not by itself define socialism. Capitalist economies can contain publicly funded roads, police departments, fire departments, schools, and militaries.

If public highways automatically equal socialism, Dwight Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System would make Ike an unlikely revolutionary.

Then there are public schools.

I did not attend one. Neither did my siblings.

My parents paid taxes to support the public school system and then paid private school tuition for us. Nobody from the county showed up with balloons and a refund check saying, “Thanks for saving us the cost of educating your children.”

And no, I did not get free school lunch either.

But even that misses the wider point.

A school lunch is a government program.

A highway is public infrastructure.

Social Security is social insurance.

None of those things, standing alone, proves that an economy is socialist.

The real argument over DSA should be about what DSA actually proposes, not whether somebody drove on a highway this morning.

DSA says it wants to move beyond capitalism, expand collective ownership, and democratize economic decision-making. People are free to support those ideas, oppose them, or argue about how they would work.

But “you use roads” does not settle that debate.

It just proves America has roads.

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Endnotes

1. Democratic Socialists of America, “What Is Democratic Socialism?”
DSA discusses replacing capitalism via collective ownership of major economic sectors.
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/  

2. Democratic Socialists of America, “DSA Constitution & Bylaws.”
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/constitution/

3. Young Democratic Socialists of America, “What Is Socialism?”
https://y.dsausa.org/socialism101/what-is-socialism/  

4. Social Security Administration, “2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment Fact Sheet.”
https://www.ssa.gov/cola/factsheets/2026.html  

5. George W. Bush White House Archives, “Strengthening Social Security for Future Generations.”
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/01/text/20050111-12.html  

6. Comptroller of Maryland, “Motor Fuel Tax Rates, Effective July 1, 2026.”
https://www.marylandcomptroller.gov/content/dam/mdcomp/tax/instructions/motor-fuel/motor-fuel-rate-chart-fy2027.pdf  

7. Internal Revenue Service, “Publication 510: Excise Taxes.”
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p510

Ian Schwartz writes on infrastructure and government accountability for Direct Line News.

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