So how do we stop "socialism"? [View all]

[ck4829]

So I hear we shouldn't even talk about "socialism", we shouldn't call ourselves "socialist", etc.

But at the same time that won't stop the airwaves and the internet from being filled with "Democrats are socialist" from the other side. A lie repeated often enough becomes seen as the truth, right?

Look at the White House, look at Fox News, look at Breitbart, at InfoWars, etc. On and on.

We're going to be hit with the label of "socialism", of "socialist", every candidate will be labeled a "socialist", every policy Democrats put out there will be called "socialism"...

No matter how non-socialist, how un-socialist, or even how anti-socialist it is.

That's going to be a given.

Now going forward and the way I see it, there are several options we can all choose and participate in, and I think I've got it down to three general ones:

1. Say we're not socialist and let that be the end of it. Hope that us saying "we're not socialist" is enough to stand up to Republican-friendly media soundbites of "SOCIALIST!", of sensationalist conspiracy theories involving Je-globalists, of shadowy figures like Bill Ayers and George Soros that just screams movie deal, hope and pray that despite being washed in an ocean of propaganda that says Democrats are socialists that people will see through it, of hoping the quick "YOU ARE ALL GAY SOCIALIST COMMUNISTS" is not enough to sway voters and we can tell people to check our empirical data and mountains of evidence that proves we are not socialist. People will go for all the technical book data and facts, not the quick and LOUD soundbites, right? Sure.

2. Defang the label of "SOCIALISM". Take the air out of it. Don't let it become something that elicits a Pavlovian boo and hiss from people. Run socialists. Run as socialists. Have positions and call them socialist. AOC could very well be the future of the party. Accept it. Embrace it. "Socialism" doesn't have to mean bread lines or repression. This one is going to be very involved and very hard to do, if someone were to ruin it, it could cause ruin for the whole Democratic Party. But at the same time, a less demanding one here would be pointing at Republicans and talking about all the crazy things they've called "socialism" over the past couple years... like not wanting to get shot in school, saying black lives matter, getting vaccinated, tax cuts for the middle class, the metric system, having health insurance without the chance of getting hit with pre-existing conditions, etc., but it will end up legitimizing socialism or at least the idea of it.

3. No platform. The right wing is at war with the left, they see themselves in a culture war with us. It very well might be time to fight fire with fire. Don't let Republicans call Democrats "socialist". Destroy the propaganda. Destroy the sources of propaganda. Ban them, report then, and more. Call them "conspiracy theorists" and insane kooks, let it be known that's what they are. A lot of these "socialist" tropes do have roots in antisemitic and other forms of racist nonsense, let it be known, magnify it. Speak louder than them and over them. They say "Sociali--", you raise a finger, put it over their lips, and go "shhhh". Anything that can be done legally to get them to be quiet, go for it.

There could be other options and we could have a mixture of all three, but at the end of the day and going into 2020, we will see at least of a part of one these three in play in response to "socialism" from the GOP, but several questions remain, which one will help us win in 2020, and which one are we willing to use? And which one will we end up using?