Thanks for writing this! I appreciate your efforts to educate. Your definition of democratic socialism is incorrect, though. Democratic socialists are to the "left" of the social democrats you mention in Scandinavia. We democratic socialists absolutely do want to replace capitalism with public ownership of the government and economy! We just believe that's possible to do alongside free speech, free expression, and free elections. There's more good info here:
Thanks Jesse. As I researched it, there were lots of nuances and differing degrees of the role that capitalism plays. Replacing capitalism using
democratic processes will take iterations and significant policy changes, so leading with that plays into the hysteria and fear. Would
you agree that there is a range of opinion about that among candidates? I think the common ground is making the economy more equitable and makes for a great starting point. The hard work will be working with the diverse caucuses within the party for significant change . This is the conversation we need to be having! Thank you for this!!
Yes - DSA is a big tent organization that contains everyone from communists to social democrats within it. There is definitely a huge range of opinion about this among both candidates and grassroots democratic socialists.
Personally, I try to focus on "working class protagonism", or as I say on my LinkedIn profile "Putting the people in the driver's seat of government."
I've been thinking about writing my own piece that lays all this out. To me, socialism is not at all like a welfare state, but is also not at all about authoritarian control. Welfare states treat people as "recipients" of government; I want people to be "owner-operators" of government. Authoritarian states heavily police people's behavior and opinions; I want people to persuade each other openly and treat each other like co-owners of the government who should be reasoned with, not forced at gunpoint into any action.
If I write more on this, I'll try to remember to share with you! I'm also recording a podcast tomorrow where Fran Quigley and I will be talking about this.
I was about to suggest my friend and colleague Scott Aaron Rogers that you and I have a conversation together about this and the hopes and challenges this movement has for transforming our democracy. I know that Blythe Potter talks about her degree in 'conscious capitalism', I would love to hear more about that too!
We can also think about you being a guest writer for H4D!
You obviously don’t live in California where the Democrats have been in charge for now going on 3 decades
And what is so great about that is that they now own every position possible
Every politician tells us how they’re going to fix homelessness fix the schools fix the economy fix you name it
Reality is They’ve driven out agriculture. They’ve driven out Silicon Valley. They’ve driven out middle class Californians in favor of illegals and BS. Visa workers that are supposedly needed
They put in mail in ballot that you are automatically signed up for at the DMV and any official California paper paperwork so every illegal is now voting
I’ve seen unions gloat over the power. They have where their members are suffering, and these leaders are living high off their hog.
You name it teachers hourly wage workers and double income families are stretched to breaking because of the increasing gas taxes enacted by our worthless assembly, who have no idea what it takes to live in the state
They have their own DMV in Sacramento. They don’t have to deal with the nonsense.
They are the perfect Embodiment of let them eat cake
Once they’re in, they’re in for life
They have their minions ballot harvesting if they’re not outright switching votes by machines and all the ballot boxes that are unregulated
And if you have any doubt about what’s going on, all you have to look at is the BLM movement where they got thrown money from every corporate entity, took those dollars and enriched themselves with multiple houses luxury cars, jewelry vacations, and that’s exactly what happens in California? We saw it during the pandemic Gavin doesn’t care about anybody but himself.
They put their friends in power they make the deal with the devil and how does somebody who had nothing like AOC And Elizabeth Warren become multimillionaires
By working in Congress, what a hoot
DSA is just another way to graft and corruption
The Democrats install candidates they just did it with grandpa Platner. They did it in the LA mayors race. We saw it happen when Spencer Pratt got out voted by a gal who cried on election night knowing she had lost, but oh my goodness all these ballots show up how does that happen? Not one vote for Spencer
Karen Bass is laughing all the way to the bank walking over the homeless encampments and drug dance just like the kids who have to go to school there
Yeah, you can have your DSA and your freaking big tent. You’re all criminals.
I ran AGAINST the Democratic establishment for office, just like AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Zohran Mamdani. I support rank and file members running against weak and corrupt union leaders. I currently live in poverty and take no money from any organizations at all. I think you're mistaking friends for enemies, here, friend.
I applaud you, but I also feel sorry for you because at least in California illegals get all kinds of help money, medical care, education welfare and if they’re trans they get surgeries drugs and whatever else they need and the powers that be support this it increases their base and that’s all they worry about they don’t care about you. They don’t care that you may or may not be living in poverty because if you’re a citizen, you have less rights.
They run NGO’s that take money that is earmarked for a certain concern and use it to enrich themselves and you as a little guy
Don’t get anything
Take your energy and put it where it will do the most good with rational people who see a problem and want to work towards a fix instead of grasping every bit of government handout dollars and using it to give to their cronies
Thanks for the well constructed information regarding all the possibilities within the big tent democratic party. Each voter must be well informed, research, and make the best selection possible for their district/state. We need authenticity and truth.
What a weak and poorly-reasoned argument. You inelegantly prop up strawmen just to knock them down. Where it serves you, you equate DSA with the kind of HR-focused neoliberalism that supports race-based policies and welfare states. But then suddenly DSA becomes an authoritarian communist organization - the exact opposite of liberalism. You claim that the organization is white supremacist, even as it routinely elevates and votes for Black and brown leaders internally and in elections.
There's plenty to critique about DSA - if you ever decide to do so, rather than pontificate inaccurately from a position of ignorance, I'd enjoy reading that.
Thanks for writing this! I appreciate your efforts to educate. Your definition of democratic socialism is incorrect, though. Democratic socialists are to the "left" of the social democrats you mention in Scandinavia. We democratic socialists absolutely do want to replace capitalism with public ownership of the government and economy! We just believe that's possible to do alongside free speech, free expression, and free elections. There's more good info here:
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/
Thanks Jesse. As I researched it, there were lots of nuances and differing degrees of the role that capitalism plays. Replacing capitalism using
democratic processes will take iterations and significant policy changes, so leading with that plays into the hysteria and fear. Would
you agree that there is a range of opinion about that among candidates? I think the common ground is making the economy more equitable and makes for a great starting point. The hard work will be working with the diverse caucuses within the party for significant change . This is the conversation we need to be having! Thank you for this!!
Yes - DSA is a big tent organization that contains everyone from communists to social democrats within it. There is definitely a huge range of opinion about this among both candidates and grassroots democratic socialists.
Personally, I try to focus on "working class protagonism", or as I say on my LinkedIn profile "Putting the people in the driver's seat of government."
I've been thinking about writing my own piece that lays all this out. To me, socialism is not at all like a welfare state, but is also not at all about authoritarian control. Welfare states treat people as "recipients" of government; I want people to be "owner-operators" of government. Authoritarian states heavily police people's behavior and opinions; I want people to persuade each other openly and treat each other like co-owners of the government who should be reasoned with, not forced at gunpoint into any action.
If I write more on this, I'll try to remember to share with you! I'm also recording a podcast tomorrow where Fran Quigley and I will be talking about this.
I was about to suggest my friend and colleague Scott Aaron Rogers that you and I have a conversation together about this and the hopes and challenges this movement has for transforming our democracy. I know that Blythe Potter talks about her degree in 'conscious capitalism', I would love to hear more about that too!
We can also think about you being a guest writer for H4D!
We would love to host this conversation.
Let's figure out how and when!
You obviously don’t live in California where the Democrats have been in charge for now going on 3 decades
And what is so great about that is that they now own every position possible
Every politician tells us how they’re going to fix homelessness fix the schools fix the economy fix you name it
Reality is They’ve driven out agriculture. They’ve driven out Silicon Valley. They’ve driven out middle class Californians in favor of illegals and BS. Visa workers that are supposedly needed
They put in mail in ballot that you are automatically signed up for at the DMV and any official California paper paperwork so every illegal is now voting
I’ve seen unions gloat over the power. They have where their members are suffering, and these leaders are living high off their hog.
You name it teachers hourly wage workers and double income families are stretched to breaking because of the increasing gas taxes enacted by our worthless assembly, who have no idea what it takes to live in the state
They have their own DMV in Sacramento. They don’t have to deal with the nonsense.
They are the perfect Embodiment of let them eat cake
Once they’re in, they’re in for life
They have their minions ballot harvesting if they’re not outright switching votes by machines and all the ballot boxes that are unregulated
And if you have any doubt about what’s going on, all you have to look at is the BLM movement where they got thrown money from every corporate entity, took those dollars and enriched themselves with multiple houses luxury cars, jewelry vacations, and that’s exactly what happens in California? We saw it during the pandemic Gavin doesn’t care about anybody but himself.
They put their friends in power they make the deal with the devil and how does somebody who had nothing like AOC And Elizabeth Warren become multimillionaires
By working in Congress, what a hoot
DSA is just another way to graft and corruption
The Democrats install candidates they just did it with grandpa Platner. They did it in the LA mayors race. We saw it happen when Spencer Pratt got out voted by a gal who cried on election night knowing she had lost, but oh my goodness all these ballots show up how does that happen? Not one vote for Spencer
Karen Bass is laughing all the way to the bank walking over the homeless encampments and drug dance just like the kids who have to go to school there
Yeah, you can have your DSA and your freaking big tent. You’re all criminals.
I ran AGAINST the Democratic establishment for office, just like AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Zohran Mamdani. I support rank and file members running against weak and corrupt union leaders. I currently live in poverty and take no money from any organizations at all. I think you're mistaking friends for enemies, here, friend.
I applaud you, but I also feel sorry for you because at least in California illegals get all kinds of help money, medical care, education welfare and if they’re trans they get surgeries drugs and whatever else they need and the powers that be support this it increases their base and that’s all they worry about they don’t care about you. They don’t care that you may or may not be living in poverty because if you’re a citizen, you have less rights.
They run NGO’s that take money that is earmarked for a certain concern and use it to enrich themselves and you as a little guy
Don’t get anything
Take your energy and put it where it will do the most good with rational people who see a problem and want to work towards a fix instead of grasping every bit of government handout dollars and using it to give to their cronies
This columnist said it better than me:
https://jennifersey.substack.com/p/thomas-edsall-wrote-an-oped-in-the?r=rzwk7&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for the well constructed information regarding all the possibilities within the big tent democratic party. Each voter must be well informed, research, and make the best selection possible for their district/state. We need authenticity and truth.
White Supremacy and the DSA Walk Hand in Hand.
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/white-supremacy-and-the-dsa-walk
What a weak and poorly-reasoned argument. You inelegantly prop up strawmen just to knock them down. Where it serves you, you equate DSA with the kind of HR-focused neoliberalism that supports race-based policies and welfare states. But then suddenly DSA becomes an authoritarian communist organization - the exact opposite of liberalism. You claim that the organization is white supremacist, even as it routinely elevates and votes for Black and brown leaders internally and in elections.
There's plenty to critique about DSA - if you ever decide to do so, rather than pontificate inaccurately from a position of ignorance, I'd enjoy reading that.