I used to be a Democrat, for much of my life.

Although I voted for him twice, my schism with the Democratic Party began with Clinton.

I had high hopes when I voted for Obama the first time, but I became jaded very early on, beginning with his cabinet picks. I voted green for his second term.

Biden was the last straw. I was done with the Democrats. I voted Green for Biden's first term and left the Presidents box unchecked for his second term.

Now I'm a nomad, noncommittal to any party or politician, drifting with the sands of true independence.

Since most of us here would have probably identified with the Democratic Party at sometime or another, or maybe still do identify with the Party, we probably should discuss The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

I find it very interesting how quickly the organization has ascended in the Democratic Party. Wasn't it, at one time, considered almost impossible to change a Party from the inside?

The DSA was formed in 1982 and according to former organizer Jake Altman:

When I joined in 2013, it was much more social democratic. It was very old, very white. In 2015 in Boston, it was a few older men and I who were the core of the old DSA chapter," Altman explained. "It is night and day between DSA in even 2015 and now. It went from this, like you say, pretty moderate social-political group to a cultural juggernaut that it is today.

By 2014, a group called the Left Caucus was formed that advanced a lot of extreme views.

There were debates at the time about how much Leninism do we want to let into DSA. And these people, they eroded any resistance and any core of anti-communism that remained within DSA. Anti-communism became forbidden, right? This is a big evil thing, to be an anti-communist.

And you can’t hold this view without running all the old people who experienced the 20th century out of the organization. And I think that had to have been part of the calculus, that they didn’t want any internal resistance," he said. "And so there were instances where people were — I think efforts were made to silence people who dissented.

I can speak from personal experience that if you dissent, there will be efforts to silence you. They use mob tactics, basically," he said. "So if you speak out, they will coordinate and a bunch of people will jump on you and denounce you, smear you behind your back, do whatever it takes to try to discredit you if you speak out against them.

Source

If Altman is right, how did this happen so quickly?

Is this movement for real, or, is it astroturf? And by "movement" I meant this latest iteration of the DSA.

Working Class Democracy

In a nutshell:

Economy and Labor

• Establish public and democratic ownership of major industries and large corporations.
• Enact a 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay alongside expanded labor and union protections.
• Implement heavy taxation on wealthy individuals and major corporations.

Healthcare, Education, and Housing

• Implement a single-payer "Medicare for All" government-guaranteed healthcare system.
• Provide tuition-free public education through college and secure complete student debt cancellation.
• Expand social housing, guarantee housing as a human right, and institute nationwide rent controls.

Government and Constitutional Overhaul

• Draft a new U.S. Constitution to fundamentally reshape the federal government.
• Abolish the U.S. Senate, the Electoral College, the presidency, and the Supreme Court as they currently exist.
• Replace executive and judicial branches with leadership chosen by and subordinate to an expanded House of Representatives in a multi-party system.
• Permit all permanent U.S. residents to vote and enact full public financing for all elections.

Criminal Justice and Immigration

• Demilitarize police departments, eliminate qualified immunity, and pursue a long-term goal of abolishing prisons and policing.
• Abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), end detentions and deportations, and provide broad amnesty with a path to citizenship.

Foreign Policy

• Reduce military spending drastically, close overseas military bases, and end economic sanctions on nations including Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela.
• End U.S. military aid to Israel.

What a radical remaking of America. How would they make all of that work? They want to draft a new Constitution? How so?

Hasan Piker

He campaigns with Democrats/DSA.

He's divided Democrats.

Is he for real, or, is he astroturf?

My cynical side's first question would be, "Whom does he work for"?

Here's some of the provocative things he has said (notice in the comments how easily he gets under some people's skin):

Maybe you agree with him, maybe you don't, but there's no doubt he's provocative. Could his purpose be to split the Democratic Party to facilitate the rise of the DSA, or maybe to just split the Democrats in general? Is his rhetoric designed to provoke violence? Is he just a self promoter using bombastic language to gain notoriety?

My conclusion?

I'm not a fan, of either.

In My Humble Opinion:

• If this version of the DSA actually someday becomes the majority Party and tries to implement their platform it would mean secession and the dissolution of the United States.
• Hasan Piker is most likely an operative.
• This all could easily get out of control and become a convenient excuse for a heavy hand.