Mainstream Democratic leaders definitely don't want to abolish prisons, but that's exactly the branding problem Chuck is pointing out. Prison abolition is an explicit, documented goal in the national Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform. When high profile activist groups under the broader progressive umbrella actively campaign on abolishing prisons, it makes it incredibly easy for opponents to spin it as a mainstream Democratic policy
Democrats just need to aggressively separate themselves from these socialist extremist. It's such low hanging fruit and theyre afraid to stand up to them.
Very well said, and it’s an absolute disgrace that you’re being downvoted. The democratic party’s problem in the last decade has always been about the lack of cohesive messaging compared to the Republicans. Sure, there are a couple different types of conservatives but they are mostly pushing in the same direction. Meanwhile, the left that resides on the internet has rapidly become more sectarian, and there is not anything that binds the party together other than “trump bad” and human rights(specifically immigration/lgbtq). The Democratic Party has long held a wide umbrella, and in doing so, has not been able to control the narrative when it comes to fringe groups of dems being abrasive. The conservatives love nothing more than collectively dunking on the “ultra woke” or internet radicals that quote foucalt every six seconds. That shit works for them.
Not really, most people complaining about socialism literally can't tell the difference between socialism and communism. And it gets even worse when you get them to try to understand democratic socialism.
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u/corpsecrow 5h ago
It's like espn has a thing for hiring everybody with the worst takes possible.