u/BeginningBit4957

A common criticism I see is that the socialist popularity is being driven by a response to Trump, both the way he’s governing and that fact that the democrats couldn’t stop him, and that once he’s gone the momentum will fade, similar to what we saw in 2020 and then the years after.

It’s obviously a different situation and I’m not sold on that idea, but wanted to hear from other DSA folks on how you think we can best continue to grow the movement in the next 2 years and beyond?

I posted about how AOC and Francesca Hong distanced themselves from some of the National DSA platform and my reactionary response was to post about how the National platform should be softened for more broad appeal at this time.

It got a very strong response. I read through almost every comment. To those who tried to bad-faith attack me (call me a fed)🖕 and to everyone else thank you for taking the time to address my concerns.

I was wrong.

What made me change my mind was thinking through it more, reading responses, and then seeing the same type of conversation happen in the recent CNN special with Hasan and James Carville. Every time they (cnn, Fox, etc.) frantically criticize the DSA, socialists, and progressive candidates with talk of abolishing the prison and senate and painting them as dangerous radicals, it sets up whoever is responding to look so much better because the truth is the democratic socialist policies being run on are overwhelmingly popular. They are drawing a line between themselves and us with themselves as the establishment that everyone hates and us as the movement for change. Trying to moderate, trying to appeal to the common denomination does not work and we should (I should) have learned that by now. We need to be bold and brave and champion the people and champion better ideas. I was wrong. I will try to be less reactionary in the future.

My previous post for reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/dsa/s/uIJcAlP4Bm

I just watched the Fransesca Hong Wisconsin governor debate. She soft-disavowed the national DSA platform. This is something I’ve been hearing a lot of recently, particularly around abolishing prison.

AOC was asked about it too and had a better response (imo) basically saying look around, we have a Republican Congress and president, those are not happening anytime soon and DSA candidates are running on policies that put working class people first.

The issue here is that AOC is right. We are not going to be even close to abolishing the senate or ending prisons in the next 4 years. What is the point of the national DSA talking about long term goals like that if it is something that Mostly-DSA-Aligned Candidates are going to be hurt by in elections and have to disavow?

It seems like a discussion that is a net-negative, and it’d be better to focus on policies that are achiveable in the shorter term. To be clear, I don’t think those are bad goals to have, but we only get there by building a larger movement first and establishing power electorally.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but seems like with the increased scrutiny of the DSA, there needs to be a stronger focus on messaging that will help the movement grow.

Some background:

I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out what insulation to use for my basement remodel in a 24x12’ space. We hadn’t considered this and didn’t work it into the budget, so I’m trying to do it as cheap as possible. We’re planning on being here for another 4-5 years and then moving. I live in Indiana where I believe the climate zone is 5a and requires R-10 insulation to be up to code. When I ripped out the drywall I found 1/2 in sheets of styrofoam in front of plastic along the cinder block foundation walls.

Additional info:

When we bought the house none of this ever came up in the inspection. Also the basement is heated / air conditioned. There was a moisture problem before we started the remodel, but the downspouts have been routed away from the house and we had a waterproofing tile installed around the perimeter of basement on the inside, but still moisture is a concern when considering the insulation.

My thoughts:

It seems like to do it up to code would require paying quite a bit for r-10 insulation and I’m not sure it’s worth it (can afford it). And I found 1/2 foil backed insulation on Facebook marketplace for $300 that would cover the whole space. From my research I think foil backed hard foam with the foil facing the interior and taped seams is the way to go. But I just started learning about this stuff today.

What kind insulation should I get?