> Congressional Caucus Called 'Front' for Socialism
> By Cheryl K. Chumley
> CNS [Conservative News Service] Staff Writer
> 12 July, 2000
>
> (CNSNews.com) - Recent Congressional votes on health care and the
> environment may be seen as victories to millions of Americans. However, one
> particular Congressional caucus boasts that the votes actually advanced
> socialist principles.
>
> The Congressional Progressive Caucus is comprised of 53 members, according
> to its Internet
> site and information provided by a spokesperson. Only one, Vermont
> Representative Bernie Sanders, is an avowed socialist. Sanders was elected
> as an Independent, but his loyalties are with the Democratic Party.
> According to the Almanac of American Politics, only two other Socialists,
> besides Sanders, have ever been elected to the US House [Moderator's Note:
> These were Victor Berger, of Wisconsin, and Meyer London, of New York. Both
> were members of the Socialist Party of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas].
>
> Among the other 52 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus,
> http://www.netprogress.org/legis/index.htm 51 are Democratic US
> Representatives, and one, Minnesota's Paul Wellstone, is a Democratic
> Senator.
>
> The Caucus was reportedly founded in 1991 and is associated with the
> Democratic Socialists of America http://www.dsausa.org, according to the
> latter's Internet site. DSA members claim, "We are socialists because we
> reject an international economic order sustained by private profit" and "we
> share a vision" of the "equitable distribution of resources."
>
> Socialism, according to a Cato Institute fellow, occurs when the government
> "arranges social order through state ownership and control, to bring about
> desired ends."
>
> Those ends, Jim Phalmer said, call for individuals to "sacrifice (their)
> liberty in exchange for nothing."
>
> "The promise is prosperity, but you get poverty," he continued.
> [Moderator's note: hmmm ... sounds more like capitalism for millions of
> working Americans]
>
> Spokespeople for the Caucus deny any affiliation with the DSA, but one
> Democratic Representative from Illinois said he holds memberships with both
> organizations.
>
> "I'm a member of DSA," Democratic Representative Danny Davis said. "There's
> an active chapter where I live. They're basically no different than a lot
> of the people I know."
>
> Davis said he did not know if other Caucus officials held memberships with
> the DSA, but added, "There are members of the Caucus who interact with
> whomever they feel like interacting with."
>
> A spokeswoman for Oregon Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio - who also
> chairs the Caucus - denied any affiliation with the DSA.
>
> "There is absolutely no relationship between the CPC and the Democratic
> Socialists of America," Kristie Greco wrote in a statement issued to
> CNSNews.com.
>
> Repeated attempts were made to reach about 10 other members of the caucus
> by telephone between July 3 and July 11, but none of them returned calls
> for comment.
>
> According to its Internet site, the "statement of purpose" for the Caucus
> is to advance an agenda that is similar in content to at least portions of
> the DSA philosophy.
>
> "(We) share a common belief in the principles of social and economic
> justice," the statement said. "(We support) a more progressive tax system
> in which wealthier taxpayers and corporations pay their fair share (and we
> support) adequate funding for social programs that are designed to extend
> help to low and middle-income Americans in need."
>
> Davis maintained he was a Democrat rather than a socialist, but also
> believed "there are a lot of people who should pay more taxes than they do
> pay" to help "those who have little," and cited Microsoft chairman Bill
> Gates as an example.
>
> "One of the things that drew me to the Progressive Caucus ... was (it) has
> a focus on trying to bring a greater level of equity and balance to our
> society ... so there is not as great a gap between those who have much and
> those who have little," Davis continued.
>
> Michael Warder, the vice-president for development with the Claremont
> Institute in California said the Congressional Progressive Caucus was
> basically a "front" for the advancement of socialist principles.
>
> "It looks like a front to a very left wing socialist agenda," he said. "It
> seems like it's (comprised) of some characters who ... are attempting to
> give socialism a good name."
>
> Davis criticized that statement, calling it "way out" and "farfetched."
>
> A Caucus scorecard, released in January, depicts some of the areas in which
> the organization's beliefs were recently advanced - most successfully,
> according to the grading system, in the
> fields of health care and the environment.
>
> Greco described the scorecard as a way for members "to grade the
> performance of the (House) on issues of importance to many Americans, such
> as education, health care, environmental protection, and reducing wasteful
> spending."
>
> The scorecard rated 121 of the 611 votes cast by the House during the first
> session of the 106th Congress in terms of how each was aligned with the
> advancement of seven different Caucus concerns.
>
> Those seven areas, as indicated on the Caucus Internet site, were "social
> and economic justice," "nondiscrimination and tolerance in domestic
> policy," "nondiscrimination and tolerance in foreign policy," "curbs on
> wasteful, inefficient government spending," "more progressive tax system,"
> "trade policies that increase exports, encourage job creation, investment
> in the US," and "adequate funding for social programs/budget priorities."
>
> Overall, the Caucus claimed 33 "progressive victories" and 88 "progressive
> losses" on its scorecard summary sheet posted on the Internet, rating the
> outcome of votes for health care and the environment as C and B,
> respectively.
>
> For example, the House voted against a managed care reform bill that omits
> measures dealing with "specialty care, chronic care, clinical trials, or
> access to drugs." The Caucus supported the failure of that bill, according
> to its scorecard result sheet, and therefore considered the vote a
> "victory."
>
> Aside from the B and C, the Caucus scorecard reflected grades of F in all
> other areas.
>
> "I think what (the scorecard) reflects is that the views of the members of
> the Caucus are quite different in many instances than the positions taken
> by a majority of the members of the House," Davis said. "It just really
> means the Caucus has views, goals, objectives, ideas that are more in line
> with the idealism that government should in fact project."