Comment on Corporate media, owned by billionaires, refuse to recognize the wave of democratic socialism
Copernican@lemmy.world 1 day agoHow do you recognize the “big tent” leanings of the DSA when the Red Star Caucus seems to only grow with more influence and actively promote cutting ties with the democratic party. redstarcaucus.org/platform/
Red Star will Make DSA a political home for people radicalized by both the Trump administration and the failures of the Democratic Party, Solidify our position as a site of struggle for trans and immigrant communities under attack, Forge closer ties with abolitionist and anti-imperialist groups in the vanguard of the working class, Build an independent electoral base in the working class, Cut ties with the Democratic Party, and End empty endorsements that trail “left-wing” candidates.
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 hours ago
Cutting ties with the Democratic party would be folly. After the Whigs perished and the Democratic Republicans split, we’ve not seen a third party overtake the principles, and that includes Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Progressives. That includes Ross Perot’s independent run, which was pretty darned convincing.
But as Alexandria Occasio Cortez observed, the Democratic party is struggling to raise the minimum wage. Long-term goals like abolishing prisons or abolishing the Senate are not likely to come up in the foreseeable future, even if they are able to secure the House, Senate, Presidency and SCOTUS. Heck, implementation of universal healthcare (which is popular throughout the US) is going to be a process that will take many years, even if it doesn’t get sabotaged by Republicans the way the ACA did.
Also, centrist Democrats have some extreme ideas. They generally want to do the things that serve their lobbyist masters, so maximizing intellectual property law, overregulating social media so that newer, smaller platforms can’t compete with the big ones in place, blocking kids from accessing the internet, deregulating landlords and so on.
And then there’s the stuff that the Republican party is actively working to do, like securing a permanent Republican majority across federal branches of government, hobbling elections, stripping non-whites of rights, stripping women of rights, making Protestant Evangelical Christianity a national religion, replacing income tax with tariffs and so on.
So no, I wouldn’t be too worried about the Red Star Caucus becoming too powerful and dominating US politics. And if, by some time-travel meddling, it did, it couldn’t possibly be worse than the mess we’re in right now.
Copernican@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
People believe in universal healthcare, but it’s pretty much 50/50 split if that means single payer or blend of private and public options or subsidies. pewresearch.org/…/most-americans-say-government-h…
Personally I’m for single payer, but I recognize that’s not a popular opinion and only represents the opinion of 30% of the USA.
This is why I find it hard to believe DSA is big tent. They have very specific ideas that they misrepresent their minority as a majority popular opinion (like single payer), and seem to have purity tests within their ranks. I don’t see big tent when I look at the DSA. There’s individuals within the group I like, but I’m realizing those are more exceptions. The Bernie Sanders era is gone, and I’m not sure where to find that kind of progressive political platform these days.