Ed Rampell

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Politicon: Socialism Without Socialists?

Politicon is to politics what San Diego’s annual Comic-Con is to comic books and superheroes - a convention geared for news junkies, avid followers of current affairs, talking points and of the talking heads who spew them in the rarefied realm of cable TV, talk radio, ripped-from-the-headlines books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, etc. The fourth annual confab took place Oct. 20-21 at Los Angeles Convention Center, featuring pundits, commentators, spinmeisters, speechwriters, journalists and more.

According to its organizers, “Politicon is the annual, non-partisan ‘Unconventional Political Convention’ that brings Republicans, Democrats, and people of all political stripes together to banter and spar over the most topical issues in smart and entertaining ways that often poke fun at both sides of the aisle.” (Emphasis added.)

But does Politicon live up to its own hype?

A case in point was the Oct. 20 panel “Should We Be Socialists?” moderated by talk show host and podcaster Sam Seder, host of The Majority Report podcast. Other panelists included: The Young Turks’ Ana Kasparian; ex-South Carolina State Legislator Bakari Sellers; nationally syndicated radio/TV host David Pakman; Justice Democrats co-founder Kyle Kulinski, host/ producer of the YouTube show Secular Talk; and Markos Moulitsas, founder/publisher of Daily Kos, co-founder of Vox Media.

Politicon should be congratulated for noting that with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ potent primary challenge during the 2016 presidential primary race and 2018 Democratic Party primary winners, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib — both Democratic Socialists of America members — that socialism is making a comeback. DSA membership has risen from 7,000 to 37,000. Various polls and op-eds, like Michelle Goldberg’s “The Millennial Socialists are Coming,” published June 30 in the New York Times and Harold Meyerson’s “Socialism is Back,” July 22 in the Los Andeles Times. Goldberg wrote a “recent survey shows that 61% of Democrats between 18 and 34 view socialism positively.”

Politicon’s presenters couldn’t fail to notice that “socialism” is no longer a dirty word exiled from the political lexicon and has returned as a phenomenon that must be dealt with in order to provide the talkfest with a veneer of legitimacy, timeliness and edginess. So, with its eye presumably on appearing to be relevant and cutting edge, to its credit Politicon added for the first time a panel discussion supposedly centering on socialism.

However, practically the very first words uttered by Seder, who hosted the curiously named “Should We Be Socialists?” forum, were: “Nobody on this panel is a socialist.” That was quickly followed by this assertion from the first panelist to speak, Moulitsas, who declared: “I’m a capitalist.” (Among other things, his Vox Media accepts advertising.)

Wait, a panel about socialists without a single, solitary socialist on it to express a socialist perspective, but instead includes a self-avowed capitalist? What’s next? A summit on the #MeToo movement featuring only all-male speakers, including a rapist? A Black Lives Matter conference with solely all-white panelists, including a Klansman? Or a panel on ant-Semitism composed just of Aryan Christians, including a neo-Nazi?

In terms (to borrow a term from capitalism) of the free marketplace of ideas, Politicon’s panel on socialists completely failed to live up to its own self-declared mission statement, to bring “people of all political stripes together to banter and spar over the most topical issues.” By not having at least one socialist on the stage to explain and argue from a socialist viewpoint, Politicon completely failed to live up to its own self-avowed values.

As such, this blabfest was a farce. I don’t blame the moderator or panelists per se for this blatant suppression of the First Amendment right of socialists to speak for themselves in a symposium about them and their ideas. The fault lies with those who organized such a one-sided panel - whoever they were? I inquired who organized this charade and never received an answer. (Although perhaps panelists should not have been complicit in such a travesty?)

Indeed, the discussion — as Seder himself repeatedly observed — veered off topic. And this was precisely because the gabfest about socialism didn’t include any socialists. Much of it was more of the same old pretentious prattle by pundits on cable TV outlets.

Instead of essentially being a confab among liberal Democrats, if there was a socialist panelist, when the subject of healthcare was discussed, the following could have been addressed: Universal coverage has been a major point in the public discourse at least since the early 1990s, when First Lady Hillary Clinton led a task force that failed to lead to a vote in Congress during the Clinton presidency. Subsequently, Obamacare failed to provide affordable health insurance for every American, and healthcare remains a pressing concern. So why is it that since the early 1960s, Cuba has provided healthcare for its population, as well as made impressive advances in medical science and even exported its doctors to Third World nations, including successfully combating Ebola virus outbreaks in Africa? Why has a much poorer nation made such formidable strides in healthcare compared to America, which has far more resources?

But there was no socialist on hand to make that argument. Kyle Kulinski, who self-identified as a “social democrat,” came the closest to making some salient points. Kulinski insightfully insisted that Leftists should argue that they stand for freedom, so that when some Ayn Rand laissez faire type contends that the Left will take our liberty away through “Big Government,” progressives should counter that big corporations limit our freedoms.

Imagine how much more personal liberty average individuals would have if colleges were tuition free (like in Cuba) and student debt didn’t cripple graduates; if healthcare was universally accessible; if public transportation and infrastructure were expanded so workers didn’t spend hours commuting on crumbling roads and bridges; if a handful of corporations didn’t control media conglomerates and we had more widespread free speech; etc.

Kulinski’s insight was probably the most progressive the panel got. Perhaps Politicon could contend the “Should We Be Socialists?” panel had no socialists on it because none could be found. But that would be a lie — last August, socialists participated in a number of workshops at the Left Coast Forum in Downtown L.A. This includes one I moderated called “What is Marxism? Is Marxism Still Relevant?,” with four panelists who all identified as socialists, including a Communist Party member.

Furthermore, L.A.’s DSA branch claims to have about 1,000 members. If asked, they (or other leftist groups) could provide spokespersons to participate in discussions on socialism.

The question is: “Should there be socialists on a panel called ‘Should We Be Socialists?’”? To not have advocates of socialism participate onstage in discourse about this is ideological and intellectual misappropriation and a kind of fraudulent misappropriation. Socialists have as much of a constitutional right to freedom of speech as liberals and capitalists do, and in future Politicon should include speakers of the socialist “stripe” to participate in the “banter” — and to speak on their own behalf. After all, socialism is a complex philosophy with many variations and believers in it should be part of any public conversation about it. It’s only common sense and fair.

If socialists don’t participate in 2019, in terms of genuine free speech, Politicon is a con.

Ed Rampell is a film historian and critic based in Los Angeles. Rampell is the author of Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States and he co-authored The Hawaii Movie and Television Book, now in its third edition. See a longer version at (https://www.laprogressive.com/politicon)

From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2018

Populist.com