Feel free to send responses to the following to JonHoch87@aol.com

Hey!

I’m putting together an article about how DSA members can push back against the disproportionate influence of tankies in the organization. I was hoping to interview you for the piece. Unfortunately, with three young kids, I can only do email interviews now. If you have time, please send me answers to the attached questions. I will likely submit the resulting article to a variety of outlets, including CounterPunch, where I’m published regularly.

Best,
Jon Hochschartner 

1. What’s your name? Can you provide a one paragraph biography of yourself that includes a description of your involvement in the Democratic Socialists of America?

1. One of DSA’s two co-chairs belongs to Red Star caucus, which supports various dictatorships, past and present, as positive examples of real-world ‘socialism.’ There have been reports that members of the International Committee have tried to develop connections with the Chinese Communist Party and, as part of this effort, have sought to downplay the mistreatment of groups like the Uyghurs. For those of us who are genuinely democratic socialists, what can be done to limit the influence of authoritarian ‘socialists’ in DSA — short of purging them, which I fear could provoke a damaging split? What caucuses should we support? What organizational reforms should we back? Is there anything else we should do?

2. Is there anyone else you think I should interview on this topic? Can you pass this message along to them or provide me with their email address?

I see Third Way conflated a lot with Neoliberalism especially on this sub and I haven’t yet figured out how to see it that way.

So even for those of you that do see it that way, how is it both similar and different to both Social Democracy and Neoliberalism?

State owned enterprises. Is too leftist for social democracy?

I am a Social Democrat. I believe the most pragmatic and realistic future for the USA is highly regulated Capitalism with a very strong welfare state. Medicare for All, free college tuition, strong worker protections, etc. Israel must abandon its war crime & Apartheid policies. my question is: what ideas from the DSA should we embrace? are there any?

how to refute this argument

This is a follow-up to my previous post from several months ago. I'm revisiting it to see if there have been any updated thoughts or opinions since then. I realize this is still early, but I'd still like to know.

Regardless, this discussion has come to be due to what is happening with the current state of the Democratic Party and its current trajectory to the White House. After, while the House was already likely to flip, the Senate has a real chance of flipping as well. Now whether that happens or not is dependent on the voters thems themselves. But the fact that it is a real battle for control of the Senate says a lot in itself. SO PLEASE VOTE!

Nevertheless, I will repeat the same question as before:

Who would you want to see as a potential 2028 presidential candidate?

Any will do, but given the current voter mindset for change, best aim for someone who is Progressive, or someone whom progressives can tolerate

I point this out as I personally do not see any Established Democrats who could win in a rapidly developing partisan world. For example, Gavin Newsom is someone who has clearly gotten his name out there in several international conventions and is known to be the first fighter against Trump after the redistricting battle. And yet, he is still not seen in a favorable light by most people, including in California. As such, while they may have some of the most funding, they will most likely not win, as "Trump bad" won't be enough for 2028. People are now more than ever hungry for real change and stability.

That said, and a special thanks to not_ezraklein, I will bring up a few notable names from the previous post, and wanted to see what some of y'all opinions of these names are:

• Beshear
• Ossoff
• Pritzker
• Van Hollen
• Murphy

Personally, I would love to see an AOC presidential ticket, but she may do more good as a Senator replacing Schumer.

Now a lot might not agree with me but this is just true, while people are allowed to vote for whoever they want in the (US) primaries there are some candidates who are just more qualified than others when it comes to experience and accomplishments.

A prime example of this is Gavin Newsom and Aoc I roll my eyes whenever I see people say Aoc would be a better president than Newsom. Now whether you like Newsom or not he has decades of executive experience and has the accomplishments to back it up. Aoc despite being in congress for years doesn't have anything to back up why she would be the best for the job. If you were to look at how much they accomplished between they're political careers and compare them be honest who would actually make a better president?

Now that's not to say people shouldn't vote for Aoc over Newsom if she were to people can pick who they want but it's something people should have in the back of their minds.

I've come to suspect that it might just be the logical conclusion of my own projected synthesis between social democracy and libertarian socialism, but I've also never read any Bookchin beyond "What is Libertarian Municipalism?", which I felt fairly sympathetic towards, and, so, idk.

I just saw the 10 minute YouTube spot about End Times Fascism, a book by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor.

it tries to tie the far right movement, MAGA, Trump, Palantir, Musk, Thiel, the global economic crisis and Gaza into a picture coherent picture. nothing new, much to debate, still interesting to watch.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/13/naomi-klein-astra-taylor-end-times-fascism-video

To me, they sound like if DSA were an actual political party.

Deregulated capitalism made it that way.

Every once in a while you'll see a post or thread talking either positively or negatively about any surrounding ideology that isn't just Modern Social Democracy, with the comments also being often divided.

This subreddit should encompass ALL variants of Social Democracy within it. That should include all historic variants ranging from Democratic Revolutionary Socialism, to Reformist Socialism/Old School Social Democracy/Democratic Socialism, to Modern Social Democracy to Third Way-ism/Social Liberalism.

I don't understand this effort to divide each other. We all have similar goals, we should work TOGETHER to achieve atleast some of our shared goals, instead of bickering and turning into tankies who are all about "ideological purity". If said purists don't want to work with us, so be it. But for those who haven't done anything to oppose us, we should give each other atleast a chance to work together, and actually achieve something.