If you are a "socialist" operating within the system by participating in electoralism, your job as an elected representative are two fold: heighten the contradictions in the political sphere; throw a monkey wrench in the normal day to day activities of the imperialist death machine. That's it, it's really not that difficult. You show up to congress, say you got elected to pass m4a or vote no on ICE funding, vote down imperialist wars, vote down bank bail outs. Your votes will be lonely and will probably have zero effect in the grand scheme of things, but that's the point. A socialist representative, even a squad of them, is functionally weak and incapable of bringing about proper change.

By advocating exactly for the things the working class supports (healthcare pls), showing solidarity with the international proletariat (no wars pls), and trying to give power to the workers (union protections, higher minimum wage) and you fail, time after time, you fail to get any meaningful support from your colleages; you are demonstrating to the working class that this system is not for YOU. You are trying to get them to wake up and realize the system is fundamentally at odds with THEM.

Failure to do this each and every step of the way is opportunism of the highest order. Refusing to stand up for your own demands, and asking to get votes on healthcare, larger stimulus checks, and better working conditions for the working class, is a failure.

I don't know what is in the water on DC, or if it just takes a certain kind of fucking brainworms to even run for congress, let alone win; but goddamn the whole process of slowly "justificating" the process of siding with Pelosi and Schumer on the procedural votes; the idea of not holding Pelosi's entire leadership position hostage is asinine. Nobody cares if you are a latinx congresswoman from the bronx if you don't pass anything fucking meaningful, or "politically" die trying.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        1·
        4 years ago

        i.e. committee positions

        Didn't AOC just get booted off the Energy and Commerce Committee?

        I'm torn on trying to arm-bar Pelosi for an M4A vote. I honestly don't think it's going to get the kind of backing that the Bad Faith folks think it can create, but I do think it's the kind of platform you could eventually build a new party around (or, at least, a Tea Party-like caucus). That appears to be the real end-goal of the Berniecrats going forward.

        But the Squad just weathered a blistering broadside of primary challenges. They failed to add to their ranks in the general. And we're going into the next cycle with Joe Biden hanging like an albatross around the progressives' necks.

        The theory that you can just play nice with Pelosi and eventually build yourself a coalition of progressive voters is still slippery. I continue to see lots of Americans - even left-leaning liberals - default to the "safe" candidates or get gulled but snakes like Warren and rats like Buttigieg.

        I don't know, man. I don't know if this entryist shit is going to work. I think dunking on AOC over it is dumb and Dore is just doing this for the RadLibs attention. But it's not looking great.

    • S4ck [none/use name]
      2·
      4 years ago

      If you know for a fact you don't have the votes, then it isn't helpful. Obviously AOC wants M4A. That isn't the issue. She's making a calculated decision to try and leverage more power for the progressive wing of the party. This is what electoralism looks like. It's dumb, but it's the way it is.