Don't Play the Radical Rightists' Game

Don't Be Trapped

A lot of my progressive friends have spent time on FB recently explaining “socialism” to radical rightists, and that is a complete waste of time. Worse, it amounts to falling into a radical rightist[i] trap.  When we are explaining socialism, we are not talking about the issues: climate change, healthcare, education, racism, and that suits the radical right just fine.

They know that on the issues, they are weak because their positions make no sense, but if they can frighten people by labeling our positions as “socialism,” they gain points.  As long as “socialism” is the topic, people are not thinking about the issues. For example, Medicare for All might be a good thing for most Americans, but they won’t think about that if they are worrying that it might be “socialism.”

Stay on Message

Our political struggle is not a political science seminar. We do not need to educate Americans on the true meaning of socialism. We need to protect our environment. We need a national health care system. We need to overcome racism and sexism.  We need to do a lot of things. We don’t need to spend our time arguing about labels.

So, stick to the message. Don’t be misled into explaining socialism. Don’t fall into the rightist trap.

---

[i] I use the term “radical rightist” because in our current political situation, it is more accurate than “conservative.”