“War Creates Its Own Weather”
Democratic socialist Tom Gallagher is primarying Nancy Pelosi, with a focus on America’s disastrous foreign policy of endless war. In a world without capitalism, he says, “we could eliminate a lot of military spending and war.”
Former Massachusetts House representative and DSA member Tom Gallagher is challenging Nancy Pelosi for her congressional seat in 2020. (Gallagher for Congress)
A book called Radicals in Power was published in the 1980s. It featured one chapter on Bernie Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and another chapter on Tom Gallagher, then a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Now Bernie Sanders is a major contender for the Democratic presidential nomination for the second cycle in a row, DSA is bigger than ever before, and Tom Gallagher is primarying Nancy Pelosi in her home district of San Francisco. (Another sign of the times: Gallagher is not the only DSA member primarying Pelosi.)
Jacobin’s Meagan Day spoke with Gallagher about US militarism, democratic socialists’ prospects inside and outside the Democratic Party, and Gallagher’s plan to rebuild Central America to address the crisis there and at the border.
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