A major focus of this blog is to expose how radical and Marxist groups have huge influence on Democratic Party policy.

One key transmission belt for socialist policy, from the Marxist left, to the floor of the US Congress, is Progressive Democrats of America – a tool of the notorious Institute for Policy Studies and the US’ largest Marxist organization, Democratic Socialists of America.

Tim Carpenter, PDA’sNational Director, for example, is a former leader of Orange County Democratic Socialists of America.

According to PDA’s website:

Since its founding in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in July 2004, PDA has aggressively worked an “inside/outside” strategy, networking progressive Democratic elected officials inside the Beltway with grassroots Democrats and progressive movement activists across the country.

By using this ”inside-outside” strategy, the Democrat Party hard left, conspire with their Marxist allies to organize marches and demonstrations in the streets to create the illusion of widespread public support for the “progressive” Congress members own radical agenda.

By using the confrontational tactics of legendary Chicago radical Saul Alinsky, congressional far leftists, mostly from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are able to bully their few remaining moderate Democrat colleagues into toeing the “Party Line.”

On January 19, 2013, in Washington, D.C., Progressive Democrats of America, gathered with left-leaning members of Congress and social movement leaders, Progressive Central: The Peoples’ Inauguration, to lay out the organization’s agenda for the next four years.

According to Cole Stangler of the Institute for Policy Studies/Democratic Socialists of America allied Chicago based journal, In These Times:

Progressive Democrats of America, whose allies in Congress come from the activist wing of the 76-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, engages in what it calls an “inside-outside” strategy of connecting the demands of progressive social movements to legislative action from members of Congress…

Progressive Central: The Peoples’ Inauguration, the third such gathering in the group’s eight-year existence, embodied that “inside-outside” spirit, as PDA-backed members of Congress spoke on panels with activists from the labor, peace and environmental movements at the University of the District of Columbia’s law school. At other times during the conference, attendees mingled outside in a hall that featured tabling from groups like CODEPINK, Public Citizen and Democratic Socialists of America.

According to Cole Stangler, several PDA backed Democrats boasted to the conference of plans to introduce several pieces of legislation, in the 113th Congress, that will enjoy “widespread support on the American left.”

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), said he would introduce a full employment act. Conyers would also again introduce a version of the so-called “Medicare-for-all” bill, which would create a single-payer universal healthcare system.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), promised he would introduce a constitutional amendment to affirm that corporations are not people, in addition to supporting a bill that would strengthen the Voting Rights Act. McGovern, like other PDA allies in Congress, also said that defense cuts would be a priority, telling the audience to rousing applause, “If I had my way, I would shut down every U.S. military base in the Middle East right now.”

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), committed  to introducing a bill, backed prominently by the National Nurses United union, to implement a tax on all financial transactions, the so-called Robin Hood tax.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told In These Times that he was worried his party leadership might agree to a future budget deal that could include cuts to Social Security.

“I’m concerned,” Grijalva said. “But none of that’s going to pass without Democrats, so I think for the Progressive Caucus and our 70-odd members, holding the line can be huge leverage in this discussion. I’m optimistic about the role we can play. This is where the outside-inside [strategy] is so critical, because the pressure from the outside, not just on progressive members of Congress but on all members of Congress, is going to be critical to holding the line.”

“I’m a Saul Alinsky guy, you know, that’s where I learned this stuff,” said Grijalva. “There’s gotta be some victories regardless of how small they are. Sometimes the victory with this group is going to be keeping the worst from happening.”