André Vasquez, who was elected to Chicago’s City Council last year as a socialist, has voted in favor of the mayor’s budget. The Chicago DSA has censured him. This raises a big question: How can a socialist organization make its elected representatives accountable?
It's one thing to kick out members who don't follow the party line when the party line has already been established; it's another thing entirely to start purging people on the losing end of internal votes. The goal isn't to have unanimous consent on every party vote; the goal is to get your top-level politicians to act as a disciplined block that maximizes the influence of the party.
From what I can recall of the original threads that popped up when this became an issue a few days ago, the dissenters' best argument was that the party should have some form of punishment short of expulsion. Without knowing all the details of the situation, that's not an unreasonable point.
It's one thing to kick out members who don't follow the party line when the party line has already been established; it's another thing entirely to start purging people on the losing end of internal votes. The goal isn't to have unanimous consent on every party vote; the goal is to get your top-level politicians to act as a disciplined block that maximizes the influence of the party.
From what I can recall of the original threads that popped up when this became an issue a few days ago, the dissenters' best argument was that the party should have some form of punishment short of expulsion. Without knowing all the details of the situation, that's not an unreasonable point.
Having them forfeit their salary would be a good start.
I wonder how ironclad you could make that sort of contract.
Finea might be a way to make that idea work.