I went to a “non-partisan political organizing day of action” or whatever (kinda pop up ngl) and it felt like AA mixed with church camp. It was very obvious that these people at this meeting were very atomized, hurting and desperate but were ultimately told that the solution is local electoralism.
On one hand, I guess it’s a super awesome way to get people to touch grass in this capitalist hell hole we’re all in and get to know community members. On the other, the end goal is liberalism.
I don’t want to say it was a cult or anything because there was a clear way to opt out, but as soon as people started to mingle and form bonds or something, they were immediately shut down to move forward with a very pointless agenda which helps no one.
yeah I shoulda phrased that way differently
what I mean is that DSA isn't as focused on atomizing you and preventing any real organizing as described in the OP, you can meet actually cool people there and they have caucuses or whatever that are a lot better than nat'l DSA (which while bad is still an improvement compared to "nonpartisan" BS)
Anyhow I would highly recommend just ignoring that rule if you have any inclination to work with DSA for any reason, but yeah DSA certainly aren't great