Members of the Left, nominally acting in good faith and who are concerned about the perception of our platform and organization as “too radical” ultimately miss the point of being a member of a socialist organization, and in effect waste our time debating our already democratically-accepted platform in order to placate bad faith concerns from outside our organization.

The media even acknowledges that socialism is becoming more and more popular, that American pride is falling to lower and lower levels, and that public and private institutions face the lowest approval ratings in the history of public polling. The public as a whole is moving away from supposed “tried-and-true” American-style neoliberalism at a startling rate. While most Americans still do believe in the ideals of capitalism (that being innovation, competition, and opportunity) while being largely skeptical of socialism. Americans acknowledge and understand that politics-as-usual is not working. As such, it is nonsensical to suggest that we appeal to the public in language similar to “politics-as-usual.” In the public arena, Democratic Socialists of America are not garnering attention because we speak to the same policies as the historically unpopular Democratic Party, but because we promote new, radical ideas (relative to the American political consciousness).

The far-Right aims to present another alternative—that of corporatist fascism—and we must ensure this alternative remains plainly unacceptable to anyone with a good conscience. It is therefore our responsibility as socialists to be radical, and to proudly and loudly proclaim ourselves to be socialists rather than another clique of useless Democrats. Zohran Mamdani is not popular because he appeals to the middle, but because he is a socialist who enacts his policies and creates visible and accessible change to his constituents. We have nothing to fear by proclaiming what we believe. It’s what the people want.