He'll successfully cast us as Commies, will we successfully cast THEM as fascists?

[Bluetus]

3. The solution is to define ourselves before the other guy can.

To define ourselves, we must talk about SPECIFIC things we will fight for. If we are not specific, teh Republicans can and will fill in teh blanks.

Look at the DSA platform. Every item is positive and specific. Every single one. You might not agree with all of them, but that platform defines what Democratic Socialrs are and what rhey are committed to doing. And the people running on that platform are winning. Americans usually bad the candidate they think has bold, clear ideas, even if they are terrible or completely unachievable ideas ("I will build a wall&quot .

We can't prevent Republicans from calling us commies, but when we talk specifics like
* eliiminate for-profit prisons and treat drug problems like a disease rather than a crime
* universal health care for evert American
* A wealth tax on the top 0.1% richest Americans and limits on them passing on billions to the next generation of oligarchs

Americans understand these things. Most Americans have on idea of the differences between socialism, communism and fascism. The only way to defend against those names is to be very clear about the new deal we are offering Americans, ewgardless what name anybody wants to use.