Bi-Weekly Discussion - The Return of the "Socialist Moment" for Dems?

Details

This is going to be an online meetup using Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before, don't worry — it's easy to use and free to join.

Click on the link above at the scheduled date/time to log in...

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THE RETURN OF THE "SOCIALIST MOMENT" FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

INTRODUCTION:

What you're seeing below is a blank discussion outline. If there's no title listed above for this meetup, it probably means I haven't decided on the topic. If there's a title but not much else, it means I've picked a topic but I'm still looking around for articles & videos clips to stimulate discussion.

If you see the topic and think it's interesting, please RSVP early since this gives me a general idea of about how many people will be showing up.

I typically try to finish up the discussion outline the weekend before a meetup, but sometimes I can't finish it until a couple days before the discussion. Luckily, I only ask that people watch a few video clips prior to attending the meetup and they generally only come to 30-45 minutes total, so even if it takes me until the day prior to finish up the discussion outline you'll still have time to prepare.

So what's up will all the X's below? Meetup's new format gives me a very short character limit that makes long discussion outline impossible. However, I found a way around it - by copying old meetups before the new character limit was introduced. But there's a catch, if all of the blank space isn't filled when I copy the meetup, the new shorter character limit will be applied, so I'm forced to fill up all the available space with X's. I know that sounds kinda ridiculous, but it's the only way I can still write up long, detailed discussion outlines.

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RELEVANT MATERIALS FROM PAST MEETUP:

We had a meetup from June 2024 entitled "Which Party's Coalition Will Crack First?", and the Introduction discussed the possibility of a "Dem Crackup" scenario where Biden lost to Trump and this discredited the establishment corporate-friendly Democrats and gave the Bernie Sanders-style populist/progressive wing of the party another chance. The 1st & 2nd sections discussed signs the Democrats were losing parts of their base (i.e. young people & working-class blacks & Hispanics) due to a mix of "wokeness" and a lackluster economy. Presumably, these are the voters the left-wing populists will try to win back with redistributive policies, along with some of Trump's white working-class base we discussed in the meetup's 3rd section.

Back in May, we had a meetup entitled "Can 'Abundance Liberalism' Save the Dems?" where we discussed how a housing shortage has caused a "blue state exodus" over the last couple decades that will lead blue states to lose House seats & presidential electors to red states after the 2030 census, unless this process is reversed with the "abundance agenda" reforms favored by pundits like Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson. However, the Democrat's progressive wing is hostile to the deregulation required for the abundance reforms, so if they win in 2028 that may lead to losses in 2032 & beyond.

DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about about XX minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I've listed some questions under each section to stimulate discussion. We'll do our best to address most of them, as well as whatever other questions our members raise. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

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I. SECTION 1 HEADING: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SECTION 1, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SECTION 1, QUESTION 2: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SECTION 1, QUESTION 3: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SECTION 1, QUESTION 4: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SECTION 1, QUESTION 5: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

1a) VIDEO 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (video - XX:XX min)