Is socialism the future of the Democratic Party?

Democratic National Committee Chairman Thomas Perez declared socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to be “the future of our party.” If so, what does that make Chrissy Houlihan? Like Ocasio-Cortez, does she support a $40 trillion healthcare program devoid of funding specifics or a litany of other initiatives for which taxpayers would be liable?

Ms. Houlihan is a candidate for Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District. Her resume is impressive as are her fundraising skills which to date, per opensecrets.org, have drawn 56.9 percent of contributions from out of state. The question is, does she have more in common with the socialist wing of her party than we have been led to believe?

Houlihan was a teacher at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia — admirable. Yet, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 2017 revealed that only 17 percent of black 12th graders were proficient or better in reading, 7 percent proficient only in math. Most received diplomas.

Competition does not tolerate mediocrity. Yet, her chosen party has consistently opposed competition for the education tax dollar. Furthermore, it is virtually impossible to terminate an inept public school teacher. Per the New York Daily News, the New York City School District, with 70,000 instructors, averaged but 1.2 dismissals annually for unsatisfactory performance at a cost to taxpayers of $300,000 per case.

Houlihan was a commissioned officer in the air force — admirable. Yet, her chosen party has consistently viewed national security as a bargaining chip to advance social welfare programs. On President Obama’s watch, rules of engagement were altered to the detriment of our troops and the military was hollowed. Actions such as the latter gave China license to militarize choke points in the South China Sea. Ukraine’s reward for destroying a nuclear weapons stockpile was the abrogation of a defense pact and the annexation of Crimea by an emboldened Russia. Foreign policy malfeasance was a hallmark of the Obama Administration. Unappreciated was that peace is not achieved through weakness and leading from behind. Pogroms are.

Houlihan was the COO of a sports apparel company. Ironically, she slandered the current administration as captive to the wealthy while counting the securities and investment industry as her largest campaign contributor. Ms. Houlihan may be unaware that as the result of recent tax reforms, her party has filed lawsuits to prevent wealthy blue state constituents from paying their fair share of federal taxes. She may be equally unaware that during the 2013-2014 election cycle, those within the 300 zip codes which define the proverbial top one percent directed 60% of campaign contributions to her party. The undeniable truth is that hers is now the party of wealth which perpetuates ignorance and dependence for political advantage.

That Ms. Houlihan, the daughter of a holocaust survivor, has aligned with the left is curious. Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism have flourished on liberal college campuses. President Obama was no friend to Israel. With U.S. taxpayer dollars, his operatives attempted to undermine the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu, considered an impediment to Iranian overtures. Like FDR, who declined to bomb rail lines to concentration camps and Clinton who gave lip service to mass extermination in Rwanda, Obama turned a blind eye to Syrian genocide, manifest in a meaningless “red line” declaration on lethal gas attacks.

From the tenor of her rhetoric, it is difficult to distinguish Houlihan from those who view violence as a means to an end. What that end entails is impeachment, firearms confiscation, open borders, higher taxes, First Amendment suppressions and a surrender of sovereignty to a globalist movement hell bent on diminishing our standard of living and obsolescing our jurisprudence.