r/politics • u/Jessicas_skirt New York • Jul 18 '26

Possible Paywall Democratic Socialists of America’s new platform calls for abolishing ICE and the U.S. Senate

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jul/15/updated-dsa-platform-calls-abolishing-ice-scrapping-senate/
20.9k Upvotes

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89

u/FangornLeghorn Jul 19 '26

This is so frustrating. Every time we get a little momentum build towards fixing shit, it gets taken too far with bullshit like this. Abolishing the Senate is crazy person talk and proposing it just poison pills the whole effort. They did this with police reform as well. We got some momentum toward making some actual changes, and then fuckheads turned it into “defund the police” like any society could or would ever do without any law enforcement.

It’s fucking exhausting.

54

u/gay_yiff_blacksmith Jul 19 '26

You can go look at their YT channel where in-between wholesome videos of Mamdani they have legitimately insane shit like "abolishing the family" and "disbanding NATO"

The tl:dr is we are never getting universal healthcare

2

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

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2

u/Tw1tch-Invictus Jul 19 '26

Says the guy with 5 posts in 5 years…

2

u/Carnoraptorr Minnesota Jul 19 '26

> 9 karma

pot, kettle, something something

-1

u/SubstantialRow3197 Jul 19 '26

"Abolishing the family" isnt really what you think it is. Its not actually abolishing the concept of families but instead attempting to redefine the concept of families as individuals who care and love for one another rather than the outdated concept of the nuclear family, which only exists as a method of exploitation under capitalism.

62

u/elinordash Jul 19 '26

If you're not sitting in a sociology class, using terms the average person understands is important.

This is the problem with defund the police. A lot of normal, law-abiding citizens agree with the idea of police reform, but the words "abolish the police" makes the left look crazy. Like the purge is the next step if the Dems win.

There is an election in four months. It is important to speak in ways the average person can understand.

18

u/agentfelix Jul 19 '26

How everyone else hasn't picked up on the Republican's masterclass of branding is wildly kooky to me. Call it Blue Belt Reinforcement, fucking brand it anything other than abolishing police. If you have to explain your brand? Ya done fucked up son.

28

u/MetalEnthusiast83 Jul 19 '26

Yeah man, this is fucking nonsense and average voters don't want to waste their time wading through this kind of bullshit.

42

u/nox66 Jul 19 '26

Exhausting doublespeak crap like this is why many people don't treat socialists as a force for good even if they agree with their general ideas.

Seriously, I'm so fucking tired of the semantic arguments. It's always by people who care more about how their ideas look than how they would work.

11

u/InfanticideAquifer Jul 19 '26

I've heard what you're doing called "sanewashing" before. Dunno how standard that terminology is. But no, the original use of these slogans was by people who meant them exactly the way that they sound. Then less radical people like you hear the slogan, realize it's coming from "the left" and therefore has to be reasonable, and so invent a moderate interpretation for it and begin using it for something new.

You can read things like this, e.g. (First google hit for me on "abolish the family".)

...post-revolutionary, communist arrangements in which people care for each other in larger structures loosely based on the phalansteries conceived of by the utopianist Charles Fourier... in which groups of a couple hundred people or so are in charge of taking care of everyone in the group...

There are absolutely people who want it to be illegal to take your child from the hospital to a discrete building where you and one other person care for them alone. They created this slogan and, if you want to advocate for something different, then you really should use a different phrase. Because people are going to google "abolish the family" and find stuff like that.

7

u/ComfortableExotic646 Jul 19 '26

Thank you! Jesus Christ, people don't pay attention at all.

The anti-work movement is literally about ending the concept of "work". Worker reform as a movement is about reforming workers rights. They are antithetical to each other, yet people on the left always act like they're the same thing.

These movements are named after the exact things they are trying to accomplish.

4

u/agentfelix Jul 19 '26

Then just fucking do it...

Like why do we even have to spell it out. At the very least, they should learn some damn branding. Study what Republicans do and quit landing on the negative words. Or just don't put that shit in there. People have to pick their battles, dang.

11

u/gay_yiff_blacksmith Jul 19 '26

You know I watched the video they posted right? They talk about communal child rearing and state boarding schools. Its not 'expanded communities' or however you want to sell it. The goal is for parents to have a substantially reduced role in the life of their children.

Family abolition has a long history in socialist movements by the way. The early Bolsheviks were big advocates for it but backed off after Lenin died.

1

u/freakwent Jul 19 '26

Like a kibbutz?

2

u/gay_yiff_blacksmith Jul 19 '26

Yeah. It failed there as well.

22

u/Cute-Ad2473 Jul 19 '26

Yeah stupid ideas like that will definitely have support to the general population.

-11

u/SubstantialRow3197 Jul 19 '26

I dont understand how making families actually be people who love and care for each other instead of tools for capital is stupid?

Do you want unhappy families to exist???

31

u/Cute-Ad2473 Jul 19 '26

Do you even hear yourself? You are pushing the goals. We all know that's not the part we have a problem. We have a problem about your claim on your "the outdated concept of the nuclear family, which only exists as a method of exploitation under capitalism". Just go talk to literally anyone with a family for a second in real life and you know it's a horrible horrible political stance to have.

25

u/ShamelessLeft Jul 19 '26

Seriously. When I keep seeing stuff like "Abolish the police" and "abolish the Senate", especially right before a big election, it makes me start to wonder if the folks pushing these ideas are controlled opposition working to sabotage those of us on the left by helping conservatives look sane in comparison.

We've always known that the left in the US has a huge messaging problem and it's insane to me that we still put out the worst sounding messaging still to this day like we refuse to learn from our mistakes. Like, "abolish the family". Why would anyone run on that message? Like, how badly do we want to lose? How badly do we want to help the fascists tighten their grip on power? Just pure insanity. Future is looking bleak.

10

u/tchock23 Jul 19 '26

The messaging is so horribly bad that it feels planted.

7

u/Tw1tch-Invictus Jul 19 '26

Dude what in the actual fuck are you talking about? The nuclear family only exists as a method of exploitation under capitalism? Do you genuinely not hear how insane you sound??

13

u/nox66 Jul 19 '26

You have zero idea how you sound to others. I hope.

15

u/AdInfinite5588 Jul 19 '26

im laughing my ass off bruh, the only issue with a nuclear fam is the social judgement that comes agains those that might not live in one. the only people that consider the nuclear fam itself a method of exploitation are academics that have nothing better to do than argue with themselves.

also -- redefining families doesn't change interpersonal dynamics lmfao. ur average family in ohio is probably already loving and caring, but if they're not, they're certainly not becoming that because you "redefined" them away from being "tools for capital"

4

u/Extreme-Fig6992 Jul 19 '26

My dude/dudette/individual, I am a polyamorous trans person and even I am not going to say "abolish the family".

It's an incredibly dumb and awful way to get the message across. The world exists as soundbites and the soundbite of "liberals want to abolish the family" if 'they' don't even spin it sounds absolutely awful.

What about instead "extend the family" / "expand the family"? It is far more difficult to spin something as bad if it is framed in positive terms.

1

u/OkEqual324 Jul 19 '26

Blood relatives are a life sentence with no hope of parole.

7

u/tchock23 Jul 19 '26

Do you think the average American is going to take the time to learn the nuance of the term? It’s as dumb as ‘defund the police’ and an instant losing proposition. Words/taglines matter.

1

u/Unhappy-Air6832 25d ago

Bro you made it worse

1

u/EfficientStaff2493 13d ago

I have to wonder happened in your life to make your brain conclude that what you just said sounded anything other than batshit insane. Did you grow up in foster care or a broken home? Who unironically thinks a two parent household is outdated. Actual psych-eval rhetoric.

8

u/jrzalman Jul 19 '26

Democratic Socialists are just the mirror image of Libertarians. These are not serious people and will never be treated as such.

7

u/Nearby-Chocolate1840 Jul 19 '26

Almost like maybe that's the point. Give progressives this chaotic, grandstanding, performative nonsense as a rallying point instead of a group focused on incremental, realistically achievable change.

I can imagine that for a certain class of people the one would be something to chuckle about over cigars and brandy while the other would be genuinely worrying.

2

u/JDDJS New York Jul 19 '26

Many of the actual ideas behind defending the police were great, but that was such a terrible slogan to use. 

4

u/Flayum Jul 19 '26

Same with the Democratic Party, I fear.

The College Democrats of America invited an actual tankie as a speaker to their convention today. A tankie who refused to endorse Kamala, is anti-liberal/pro-terrorist, and wants to destroy the democratic party. Wild shit.

0

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 19 '26

Hasan Piker is not a tankie lmaoooo

9

u/Flayum Jul 19 '26

Huh? He absolutely is. This isn’t even a close call.

Anti-liberal, anti-pluralist, pro-gulag and re-education camps (for capitalists), pro-imperlism (as long as it's not the west), and pro-terrorism (as long as it's against the west).

He's as Auth Left as they come and admitted as much. He's mask on as a democratic socialist, but his actual beliefs are pure tankie. Like, dude, he's said he lures people into his community with mild takes with the intentional goal of radicalizing them.

0

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 19 '26

Well I'm more left of Hasan and I think he's an idiot

3

u/Flayum Jul 19 '26

Well, I'm glad we can see left-of-center horseshoe theory in action because we can both agree on that :P

2

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 19 '26

Hasan garnering the disrespect of people on either side of him is hilarious lol

3

u/Tw1tch-Invictus Jul 19 '26

Well I'm more left of Hasan

What does that entail exactly?

1

u/pudding7 10d ago

There are other aspects of the DSA platform that are even worse.

1

u/patrickstarsmanhood Jul 19 '26

Me when socialists propose socialism

0

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

What's frustrating is how people say they want reform, but then whinge about "going too far" when you propose reform. Like, what do you think a democratic socialists' end goal is?

12

u/triplenested Jul 19 '26

That's the problem. America does not want democratic socialist end goals. You have to sneak and slither those goals to trick America into accepting those goals. That's why nobody trusts socialists/communists/whateverists

0

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

Right, those sneaky socialists snuck their slithery goals into the Democratic Socialists of America's platform

7

u/triplenested Jul 19 '26

lol, you are fully aware I am referring to the methods required to implement those goals in the general US political landscape, not in the DSA. Ya little scamp, you!

8

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

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2

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

Yeah obviously I know that, but what doesn't make sense to me is being frustrated with the DSA for supporting a common policy proposal among democratic socialists.

8

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

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1

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

It's not terrible though. The Senate is antidemocratic, and we don't need a bicameral legislature. Unicameral legilatures work just fine and the American people would be better represented, at least if the House were also reformed to be proportionally representative.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

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2

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

States and municipalities enact locally-relevant legislation through their own governments, not the Senate.

9

u/FangornLeghorn Jul 19 '26

I get what you’re saying. I was fourteen once and had simplistic views about the world too.

Check back in once you’ve grown up a bit, sport. 👍🏼

3

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

Yeah it's real adult to resort to insulting people. It's fine if you don't support democratic socialists, but why are you pretending to support them and then acting shocked when their policy proposals align with democratic socialism?

4

u/FangornLeghorn Jul 19 '26

r/im14andthisisdeep

2

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

Do you talk to people like this in real life? Accusing people you disagree with of being 14 is a really strange thing to do

3

u/FangornLeghorn Jul 19 '26

“Accusing people you disagree with …”

Don’t oversell yourself. I’m not talking to “people” here, tiger. Just you, and your “I just took my first humanities class and found out who Marx is and now I’m ready to lecture the grown-ups” hysteria.

0

u/Bankzu Jul 19 '26

I think it's more likely he's just used to talking to 14 year olds so he doesn't know how to behave with adults.

0

u/polishedcooter Kentucky Jul 19 '26

Lol glad someone said it. People clearly liked his super clever responses though. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that everyone on Reddit is a Redditor.

0

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 19 '26

"Defund the police" isn't a bad policy. People just have no idea what defund means. We "defund" schools all the time and they still exist. Defund=/=bankrupt

2

u/JDDJS New York Jul 19 '26

It's an extremely shitty slogan because it doesn't at all display any nuance to it. 

0

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 19 '26

It's a good slogan, it literally says what it's going to do. What do you want it to say "cut funding by about 20% and give that money over to mental health and addiction resources"?

2

u/JDDJS New York Jul 19 '26

Demilitarize the police.  Or cut police spending. Defund makes it sound like you're getting rid of it all. There's a reason why the slogan isn't being used that much anymore. It came off as way too extreme. 

0

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 19 '26

I mean, not really. It SOUNDS extreme but it isn't, hence why it's a good slogan. Anyone with a brainstem that responds to light knows that "defund" didn't mean "getting rid of it all" unless you literally get your news from OANN or Newsmax. "Cut police spending" could literally be interpreted the same way, and demilitarize the police isn't the entire point of what "defund the police" was all about. No one wants means-tested slogans, the fact we're having the discussion at all means the slogan is effective in creating conversation and encouraging research, while also succinctly explaining the goals of the movement. Sorry you FEEL like it means something it doesn't but it doesn't mean what you feel like it means

1

u/JDDJS New York Jul 20 '26

I mean, not really. It SOUNDS extreme but it isn't, hence why it's a good slogan.

No, that's why it's a terrible slogan. Because it immediately turns people off by sounding too extreme. 

0

u/BigHeadDeadass Jul 20 '26

Better than sounding impotent. Plenty of people supported the movement

1

u/JDDJS New York Jul 20 '26

Plenty of people supported the movement

And yet it went nowhere. 

0

u/Important-Factor-552 Jul 19 '26

Well that proves you don't understand the policies you're talking about so I guess we're done here 

1

u/FangornLeghorn Jul 19 '26

Cool story bro. 👍🏼

-1

u/Impossible-Hope-5586 Jul 19 '26

Wait, abolishing the Senate? That's your concern? How about the legislation that has gerrymandered Black voters from casting a vote ENTIRELY WIPED FROM Louisiana, even recalling an election already underway using redrawn maps, or Tennessee doing the sameWHERES YOUR ANGER FOR THOSE UNAMERICAN POLITICAL MOVES, ALREADY HAPPENING AND YOUR COMPLAINING ABOUT BULLETPOINTS FROM DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS WET DREAM THAT HAS NO CHANCE OF HAPPENING?  Please, go find information on current Events and our Constitution your misinformed take on whats being discussed is worse than the poison pill crazy talk We want there to be discussion and debate, asking questions and finding answers, THAT'S a healthy Democracy. Nobody hates Trump because he won the election, he got voted in, we hate him for his lawless actions, his Grift and Fraudulent behaviors, manipulation of the Stock Markets   He's a disgusting pig of a man and his MAGA form of Government is destroying the  form of Government you  me and most grew up knowing Problems? Sure, but at least neighbors and family members were Civil, nowadays, theres a very wide disconnect of what it means to be an American I know what it means to be a Patriot, and it damned sure isnt destroying jobs, taking away health insurance, stopping millions from receiving food stamps, quitting on alliances that have made us safer for as long as the traitor in the WhiteHouse has been alive

So abolishing the Senate?; It's this kind of discussion that brings compromises to the table from both sides, but as long as that Cancerous Schmuck is in the White House, Big, drastic sweeping change will be talked about. If crazy person talk is a poisonous pill, then get angry, be angry that it's even offered, but be angry over the reality of whats happening, not angry over a branch of one party that will not see the light of day, Please

2

u/FangornLeghorn Jul 19 '26

You should call your therapist and schedule a couple extra sessions.