"The case against Benjamin Harris being a true Socialist"

For five months in 2023, until Oct. 7, I was a proud and loud member of Democratic Socialists of America. I have no one to blame but myself. I didn't read the platform. Thought DSA was socialist like the Labour Party is, like the Social Democrats across Europe are.

Shortly after joining DSA I had lunch with a friend, and told him. There was a look of shock on his face but he didn't say anything.

This past weekend, utterly befuddled by what a "regulation capitalist" was, and now unsure what socialism was and what Social Democrats were, I expressed my confusion to the same friend. "I never thought you were a real socialist," he texted me.

I am sincere--often wrong, always certain!-- but sincere. So I was very curious why my friend of 30 years didn't believe me when I proclaimed myself a socialist. I asked him to explain.

The case against Benjamin Harris being a true Socialist

1.  Socialism is a cult. Everyone has to eat the whole enchilada. Period. If our discourse proves nothing else you don’t take anything at face value and more than most can hold two seemingly disparate ideas in your head. I don't need to regurgitate them you know of several we have discussed. You see nuance that people in cults just don’t.

2. You are generally too non conformist. You worked as a prosecutor but wouldn’t do DP [death penalty] cases thereby limiting your advancement. You saw that shooting [a police shooting] was bullshit, said it was bullshit and when noose boy [a proud hangman who we both worked with] and his posse came after you, you fought back hard. Socialists who go to the meetings aren’t the guys going against the grain.

3.  You never struck me as angry at those who had money. I remember you telling me about your publisher friend and how much money he made ( and lost and made) back in the day and you didn’t resent his success, you were impressed by it. True socialists dislike the entrepreneurial class. I don’t think you do.

4 . I think people who work for gov as long as I have and you did develop a healthy skepticism of putting Gov in control of business. Do we want airlines to run like the clerks office or [a screening unit] at the [prosecutors office]— we have seen the incompetence first hand.

5. You have a live-and-let-live libertarian streak that also doesn’t fly in DSA.

6. While you and I have had skirmishes on wokeness and cultural issues —- I know in my heart, in my bones if you really were subjected to the group think virtue signaling of it you would not swallow all of it hook line and sinker.

7. I think what you ARE is a euro “ social democrat” à la Sweden. You want gov to help people more. You think rich people should pay more taxes to support a beefed up safety net so we don’t have as much poverty. You want workers to have more rights.  That doesn’t mean you want gov to run publix where 11 gets her pie and you get the steaks you microwave (😂)

Those are my thoughts 

Wonder what you think 

My reply, such as it was, I was so nonplussed:

what i think is i am extremely thankful to have you as a friend. that touched me, i'm not ashamed to say. thank you, buddy.