I was recently thinking of running for office within my locality. I would probably have to run under the purview of the Democratic party purely because of the outreach and funding. However, I despise the Democratic Party and have felt we need to do away with it due to it's radioactive nature (especially within my y'all queda red territory). In my eyes now there are no good politicians as there are no good cops. I feel as though working within the systems rules has become cyclical. We have to work with what we are given because it is all we have, democrats get elected, nothing drastically changes, rinse and repeat. Each local position is restrained in ehat they can do.
I had went to this town hall meeting where ex democrat representatives were speaking (our currently elected republican representatives are not holding town halls so these ex-representatives stepped up to listen to people's concerns) about a month ago and spoke my piece about organizing and making sure your neighbors are ok. I also spoke on organizing a general strike. That seemed to resonate with a lot of people. I had many people come up to me after and tell me I should run for office immediately. Especially because of how young I am. Though I am conflicted.
I feel as though we needed to create a new party, but now we don't have time for that type of organization. Climate change is a real threat that isn't talked about and engaged with as much as it needs to be. Time is running out. I feel as though now is the time to build up grassroots mutual aid movements to make people less reliant on the systems in place (growing food, talking to neighbors and making sure they are ok, etc.) However, there is still some part of me that is screaming these positions are important only because of the potential opponents that can take the reigns instead.
So my question is comrades, do we keep working within the cyclical bounds of the system, do we ditch it and focus on your community, do we do both?
Thank you for your time.
Yeah I would say run as an independent socialist or run with an already existing group in your area. I joined DSA as they're the main socialists/labor force in my area that runs candidates and wins. But yeah while I'm biased towards saying you should join them you should really just find whatever group has momentum in your area and work with them. Or if there is nothing like that in your area (since you said you're in a red area) then running as an independent could be pretty effective if you have the resources to do it since you can push socialist talking points that resonate with people without being labeled a socialist. But yeah at the end of the day you're gonna need to meet people and make connections with people if you want to run so either you can get the resources you need to run or at the very least know people who will help you with door knocking and phone banking.