Socialism

Socialists Claim Public Libraries Are Examples of Their Policies. Don't Believe Them.

Libraries aren’t all that socialist, and they’re far from the total state the radicals really want.

J.D. Tuccille | 8.14.2026 7:00 AM

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The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and its allies, who are rapidly gaining traction in the Democratic Party, want to turn "food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation" into "common goods and utilities" run by the government "in a future without capitalism." But never mind, I'm told. I'm assured by responses to my recent column on the surge in left-wing radicalism that "when your representatives vote and allocate your tax dollars for a library," that is "democratic socialism."

You are reading The Rattler from J.D. Tuccille and Reason. Get more of J.D.'s commentary on government overreach and threats to everyday liberty.

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Oh, really? So, we're talking about borrowing books and not eliminating private property or the DSA's embrace of totalitarian regimes in Cuba and Venezuela? You could have fooled me.

But, of course, they are trying to fool me with bait-and-switch arguments that substitute cute and cuddly public libraries—who doesn't like stacks of books?—for seizing the means of production and state control of essentially everything. Because libraries are so innocuous, socialists fall back to them.

By 'Socialist,' They Mean Libraries. Sure.

"If you think the GOP is terrified of my politics now, just wait until they find out about public libraries," DSA–affiliated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) huffed in 2018 shortly before her election to Congress.

"If today, you and I were to introduce the idea of a building that lends out books........

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