Like most Americans, I've been following the election, and Tuesday, Nov. 3, is the last day we can vote.
asserted
we → follow → election
I have to admit that from the South Side of Chicago, I've been watching the state near me, Michigan, with a heavy heart.
asserted
I → have → heart
On Tuesday, voters there will decide whether or not to send Abdul El-Sayed to the United States Senate.
asserted
voters → decide → Senate
He is a progressive who wants to implement Medicare for All, and he wants to abolish ICE.
asserted
he → want → ICE
He has Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in his corner (Britannica).
asserted
He → have → Britannica
What interests me about him is that he is part of a broader push on the left that sees American principles as the problem.
asserted
that → interest → problem
El-Sayed says that he is not a socialist.
asserted
he → say → ?
He calls himself a capitalist, and the Democratic Socialists of America have never endorsed him.
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Socialists → call → him
But one has to wonder if keeping that distance is part of his campaign strategy.
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keeping → have → strategy
Between 2017 and 2020, he spoke at six DSA chapter events and even gave the keynote speech at a 2019 fundraiser.
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he → speak → fundraiser
The socialist organizers have called him "a longtime friend of Detroit DSA" (Fox News).
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organizers → call → DSA
In addition to this, 50 DSA members flew in from New York to knock on doors for him before the primary (Washington Examiner).
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members → fly → primary
I'll let Michigan decide what the most apt political label is for him.
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label → let → him
He has made a concerted effort to show Black voters in the Detroit area that he is with them.
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he → make → them
He lost the city in the August primary, and since then he has visited Black churches, stood with Black pastors and put out an agenda for Black communities with housing timelines, minority business loans and school repairs.
asserted
he → lose → timelines
In September, he told a room full of female faith leaders in Detroit, "When it comes to Black communities in Michigan, when it comes to Black communities in America, there are unpaid debts that have long since come due that we are unwilling to acknowledge, let alone pay down."
asserted
we → tell → that
It is important to notice the language here.
asserted
It → notice → language
He's talking to us as if we are people who are owed, as if our future depends on somebody else paying up.
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somebody → talk → us
He sees us as members of the oppressed class, and he's trying to chill with us on that level, just like the good old White liberal used to do.
asserted
liberal → see → level
I've listened to him long enough to know that I can't find any of the things that I'd want to hear him say.
asserted
him → listen → that
He says nothing about embracing America without apology.
asserted
He → say → apology
Being an American means not relying on excuses, being responsible and taking accountability.
asserted
Being → mean → accountability
But he says none of this.
asserted
he → say → this
For 60 years, the left has talked to Black Americans this way, and I've seen the profound damage that kind of talk does in the communities that I serve.
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I → talk → that
I have said this elsewhere.
asserted
I → say → this
This socialism that candidates like El-Sayed lean heavily into is not a good thing.
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candidates → lean → Sayed
After all, we Black Americans were the first in America to truly live under the kind of government dependency that socialists now want for everyone.
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socialists → live → everyone
Though they were sold politically as programs that would lift us out of our history of oppression, the Great Society, the housing projects and welfare rules that punished marriage and work all trapped us in a vicious culture of dependency.
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that → sell → dependency
In 1963, 23.6% of Black children were born to unmarried mothers.
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% → bear → mothers
By 2023, the number had increased to 69%.
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number → increase → %
Fathers were leaving, a check took the place of the man in the house, and marriage, faith and work started to look optional.
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marriage → leave → house
Many Black Americans fled this life by using the American principles of uplift, and too many others found themselves in what has become known as the permanent Black underclass.
asserted
what → flee → underclass
That's what I see every day.
asserted
I → see → what
I created Project H.O.O.D. to undo all of this damage with job training and character building, and by telling young people the truth, which is that government dependency doesn't have to be their destiny.
asserted
dependency → create → truth
The people who rallied around El-Sayed have told us what they want.
asserted
they → rally → what
The DSA's 2026 program, "Workers Deserve More," has made the call for abolishing the Senate and the Electoral College and replacing the president and Supreme Court "with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress."
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program → deserve → Congress
They literally want to take down the greatest form of government ever devised.
asserted
They → want → government
They have also talked about the need to "draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic."
asserted
They → talk → republic
In 2021, a DSA convention resolution said that the United States "has never been and will never be a force for liberation."
asserted
States → say → liberation
Amy Wilhelm, who sits on the DSA's National Political Committee, said, "The role of socialists ... is really to facilitate the defeat of our own nation."
asserted
role → sit → nation
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
