Was Dwight Eisenhower a communist? As a Republican president in 1956, he ran on a platform of expansion of Social Security; federal assistance for construction of hospitals; increased federal aid for medical care of the needy; and the creation of a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. And an immigration policy that provided a haven for oppressed peoples, based on equality of treatment and free from “discrimination between racial, nationality, and religious groups.”
For at least 45 years, though, the Republican Party’s main policy has been cutting taxes for the wealthy, getting rid of regulations that corporations don’t like, and telling us all that this will result in prosperity for everyone. It was marketed and sold to America by none other than Ronald Reagan himself.
Instead, we have the greatest wealth inequality in the history of the country, billionaires prancing around onstage with chainsaws bragging about cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse,” and the top 0.1 percent—roughly 340,000 people—holding nearly $23 trillion of the nation’s wealth. Republicans in Congress are now telling Americans that we can no longer afford Medicare and Social Security.
Ordinary people across the country are saying, “enough,” and running for office, calling for an end to corruption, making the rich pay their fair share, and making housing and health care affordable. Republicans call them communists.
If you want an America that works for everyone, find a few of these candidates and support them. Write some postcards, do some calling, or make a small donation. You can call them communists or call them democratic socialists, progressives, independents, prairie populists, or Democrats. Maybe even call them 1956 Republicans. Let’s call them members of Congress.
Alison Jones
Baywood-Los Osos
This article appears in July 23 – July 30, 2026.
