When the citizens of St. Paul go to the polls Tuesday, if any voters still actually go to the polls on voting day, they will encounter candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. A DSA endorsement is apparently anticipated and enjoyed by candidates who call themselves progressive, but, in fact, take an often dim and not very cheerful view of our city.

In Ward 5, for example, the North End and the Como neighborhoods, Hwa Jeong Kim has received the endorsement of all progressive groups, including the DSA. Progressive candidates talk about their shared values for the city.

They aren’t values.

They are agendas.

Ripping up Summit Avenue for an elevated bike path is not a value, not when you lose trees, pour more concrete and devalue the one and only avenue in the country that still showcases the aspirational and inspirational splendor of its Victorian heritage. That’s an agenda.

The DSA has an extensive agenda, most of it straight-out antithetical to, I would hope, most voters in the city.

The DSA platform, when printed, runs 22 pages. For starters, the DSA is opposed to capitalism. Even though capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system in the world — that is, when you actually work — the DSA finds capitalism racist, oppressive and discriminatory. Words mean something. Abolishing capitalism is an agenda.

“For the working class to achieve collective liberation,’’ the DSA would defund police and eliminate the prison system and free all people from involuntary confinement. The guy who conks you on the head when he steals your car is just seeking collective liberation.

Self-government, no police. Community councils should distribute food. Social ownership of all major industry and infrastructure. A four-day work week. Free college (to learn what?), free abortion on demand. Decriminalize sex workers and end gender restrictions on, well, everything.

Only 10 pages to go.

The DSA of course believes in a climate crisis. No more fossil-fueled power plants. Socialize the agricultural system. Water, energy, transit, food and necessities for all, free of charge.

The platform goes on and on, housing justice, health justice, stand in solidarity with Palestine, cut military spending, withdraw from NATO, end all immigrant detention, end the war on terror, close all foreign military bases, stand with Palestine. Whoops, already been mentioned.

Minneapolis has five DSA-endorsed city council members or sitting council members. Ward 5 in St. Paul is just one example of DSA infiltration in our city. If you get beyond the brochures of smiling candidates you will find more DSA connections in St. Paul. Pam Tollefson is running in Ward 5 as is Nate Nins and David Greenwood-Sanchez, no DSA endorsements.

Tollefson is 62. She has worked for a living. She has been a renter, homeowner and landlord. Tollefson thinks crime is a major issue in her ward. Her opponent, Kim, 38, if she follows her endorsee’s instructions, wants to defund the police and abolish prisons. If you live on Rice Street or around Como, does that really make sense?

The choice Tuesday doesn’t seem complicated. We either vote for people who understand the city and actually like this country or you vote for the “progressive’’ agenda in which the future is not you or your goals or your individual achievements, but is an agenda-driven management of your life.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic’’ podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com

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