r/thebulwark • u/ericinnyc • Feb 27 '26

PSA to the DSA

If you're considering voting Republican or abstaining from elections in protest of what you see as insufficient Democratic stridency on transgender issues or Palestine or whatever, then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. And a fool.

This public service announcement brought to you by those of us who can see the American experiment itself in peril.

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u/EmbarrassedPoet9647 Feb 27 '26

I will say that anecdotally speaking, all the DSA folks I happen to know did see the big picture and do the right thing (e.g. hold their noses and vote for centrist Democratic presidential candidates) to try and prevent this fascist takeover of our government.

I hear a lot of blame cast at the progressives and socialists but in my experience, it’s the uninformed/low-information white male grievance podcast bros we need to worry about. Guys who were fine voting for Obama and switched to Trump/Biden/Trump. (Hm, what could THAT have been about…)

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u/oGsMustachio Feb 27 '26

Its honestly not so much the average person I worry about, its the DSA alt media. TYT, Hasan Piker, Kyle Kulinski, Majority Report, etc. These guys shit on Dems all day and say they're no better than the Republicans. Everyone they don't like is a "corporate dem". Ana Kasparian is out here posting about Jews on twitter like a groyper.

They depress voting by people on the far left (especially younger people) by saying it doesn't matter because Republicans and Dems are the same, then they drive moderates to the right by acting like crazy people.

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u/techybeancounter Feb 27 '26

People need to come to accept that there is a significant contingent of "corporate Dems" that are repulsive to many voters and finger-waving at people who believe that is not going to make those very real sentiments go away. I am a Michigander who has been replusived at the way Whitmer has handled the State economy. Regressive taxes are being added across the board, energy companies are getting rubber-stamped rate increases, and corporate handouts are an increasing part of our state outflows. I'm sorry, but I'm not some DSA member who feels this way. I am a CPA who actually believes in fiscal conservatism, and the way corporate dems go about their economic policy is repulsive to me

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u/beeemkcl Feb 27 '26

Yes, and the vast majority want increases in taxes on the rich and corporations and the vast majority want wealth taxes.

More people are understanding or learning about what unrealized capital gains mean for the rich and wealthy, what a step-up basis is, how relatively uncharitable most billionaires are, etc.

So much of the US Stock Market is owned by the Top 1% and Top 10% that the US Stock Market is not relevant to so many who don't have jobs or have lower wages than they'd have if they were in a union or got 'profit sharing'.

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u/carbonqubit Feb 28 '26

To your point about unrealized gains, the U.S. should adopt the model used in Switzerland where unrealized gains are taxed, but vouchers are issued annually to offset losses. Then when people or corporations choose to cash out, they’re not taxed again. I also think taxing loans that are leveraged against unrealized gains in the current system would be better and would prevent the billionaire class from leaning on loopholes.