Candidate For Co-Chair: Case F.

As a member of our chapter's steering committee, what are some priorities you would like to see set during your year of service? What are some of the goals you would set for the Steering Committee?

I plan to improve turnout and engagement of our members in furtherance of increasing the organizational capabilities and people power. This is the key factor in taking on the landlords, police, oil industry, and fascists in Sacramento. I furthered these efforts my previous term by participating in several phone banks for turnout for the labor committee and electoral committee as well as numerous tabling efforts. I have sought to further DSAs efforts of being a presence in the community making connections with the other radical organizations. I am a member of ACCE’s transit union, the Sacramento IWW, and routinely work at NorCal Resist’s Seeds of Solidarity Farm. Joining these efforts will increase the power of socialists who seek to transform this city into one that works for all of us.

As a member of the steering committee, how would you work to improve engagement from our general membership?

One of the things I will push for is to have monthly general membership meetings. I plan to do this because our meetings rushed and lacking democratic input. We spent our local convention work-shopping resolutions. There is little ability for the general membership direct the organization and this is due to a lack of time. We ran out of time to complete necessary bylaw amendments that have been indefinitely put on hold. Monthly GMMs would also provide avenues for people who are unfamiliar with the operations of the chapter to be better plugged in.

Why are you a democratic socialist?

We find ourselves at a time endemic with crises. The people in power are unable to transform our economy away from the fossil fuel industries because we have a parasitic class who plan to keep the money hose pointed at their mouths. This trend is repeated throughout most industries (healthcare, pharmaceuticals, housing, endless wars ... etc).

I am a democratic socialist because I know we need to change course to one where all people are lifted up and provided the right to self fulfillment free from threat of homelessness, starvation, who live in a healthy environment with our necessitates quickly accessible. We must free ourselves from the shackles put on us.

We must do this by organizing. We need to have militant unions and people who believe in a world better than this one. People who can bring their economy to its knees and make it our economy. As DSA we are central to making this happen. We are the ones in the labor and elected spaces who can bring the people around us to this vision.

Optional Statement

I have been a DSA member since 2019 starting in the Heart of Iowa DSA’s tenants union and moving onto Seattle DSA where I canvassed for Bernie Sander’s 2020 run.

Since moving to Sacramento in 2022 I have continuously supported DSA’s efforts in the city broadly, especially the efforts of the mutual aid, labor, and electoral committees. In March of this 2023 I was appointed as an Organizer on the Steering Committee. With that I have been able to use my position in supporting turnout for numerous events throughout the year including Katie V for City Council canvassing, and labor committee meetings. I will continue these efforts to build up Sacramento DSA as Co-Chair.

Candidate For Comms Director: Julian R.

My intention is to help to build a self sufficient comms committee with twofold priorities; a social media ‘comms brigade’ will be created to offset the individual burden of posting content to our various social media platforms, on call to act as a ‘fire brigade’ when something needs to be posted Right Now (action info, responses to global events) that isn’t just one person with a social media login. This brigade will also seek to democratize access to the socials in general, developing a guideline to posting content that will allow comrades to speak not just as individuals asking for a megaphone but AS The Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America, our whole weight behind their words. The broader ‘calms committee’ will seek to organize regular get-togethers with other committees and committee members to discuss, produce and disseminate physical as well as digital material for organizing their various campaigns. As an example, some members of the mutual aid committee came by my apartment to paint banners for an immediately upcoming Palestine rally as well as to produce a banner and printed materials for the Mutual Aid committee to table with; largely a delightful get together, that allowed more senior members to share their skills in producing physical banners as well as combatting burnout in new and old members by building trust and having something to *show* for our work at the end of the night. My hope, at the end of my tenure, is that Sac DSA will have a more tightly integrated committee system that eliminates redundant work in the form of needing a new graphic for each event or new material for tabling; to have a great deal more printed materials, a stronger social media presence thru the introduction of platform agnostic short form video content as well as the dissemination of social media access to committee chairs and members, and the confidence and trust to make more of the above.

As a member of the steering committee, how would you work to improve engagement from our general membership?

The socialist movement is stronger than it has been in 100 years. In 2023 alone, Labor organizing has secured countless victories for the American working class, and locally, the doldrums of distanced organizing thru our ongoing pandemic have given way to a wave of new faces, new comrades, new reasons to hold hope in our hearts for the better world we know is inevitable. But lately, when speaking to my comrades, Institutional memory and burnout are two concepts that come up a lot more than movement building or socialist education. Despite recent victories there is an unspoken tension that pervades our chapter as well as our movement globally: we have lost Trust, the central and most sacred tenet of our socialist movement. We no longer Trust one another to Do The Work.

This is no great failing! For hundreds of years, we have come to this movement because the psychic weight of inaction is greater than the burden of the work. We urge the working class to stand together because we as individuals can sit no longer. But thanks to the nationwide capitulation of 'progressive' electeds to the Israeli genocide engine, thanks to our community’s cynical response to the death of countless comrades on the streets, and thanks to the insidiously infectious grindset mindset of our times, it can feel as if we, as individual organizers, have been left holding a bag. When nobody steps up to do the work, we feel that it is up to *us*. As if we are all that stands between the inevitable future of socialism and the endless barbarism of this dying old world. But we cannot stand alone. Despite the new faces, the victories, the new enthusiasm, this chapter has lost people; our comrades have been martyred by US bombs, blinded by US police, evicted and left to die in the cold. Others we relied upon as pillars of support have buckled under the weight of the bag, or simply drifted away over the COVID years, and passed into paper membership. With all of them go decades of organizing training and expertise, our ‘institutional memory’ fades a bit more as years of solidarity and support thru countless actions pass into obscurity. Those that remain are invigorated by the work they have the capacity to do but are otherwise intimidated by the prospect of taking on anything *else*, and so the burden of that work falls upon new comrades, whose boundless enthusiasm for a better world I refuse to watch become crushed under the weight and banality of managing this chapter.

No longer.

We must delegate the work through delight. We must organize not (just) as individuals making direct asks of other individuals, passing the buck of the bag down the line, but by coming together in joyful solidarity, in person, in song. I am submitting my candidacy for Comms director but I seek first and foremost to direct Calm. The stated duty of the comms director is organizing a comms committee, and managing our chapter’s out facing communications thru management of our social media accounts. I intend to fulfill these rolls, improving our social media presence by democratizing its access and reaching out to new platforms like TikTok with platform agnostic educational video content- but on the whole, I feel we must shift focus away from social media. We are not going to reach engage paper comrades thru Twitter or Instagram, not while people are shadow banned for simply posting a Palestinian flag emoji.

Instead I intend to combat burnout and preserve institutional memory by generating calm and communication internally AND externally- I seek to bring comrades together in person, invigorating one another with shared solidaristic artistic expression. We must have solidarity and trust in one another before we can project it out to the world. I wish to bring comrades together not only to find a way to post what they’d like to post, but to sing labor songs, to paint banners, to make zines and posters, to artfully and cooperatively educate one another through the skills that we share and the knowledge we bring.

Why are you a democratic socialist?

Because it's that or Barbarism.

Candidate for Secretary: Phil Kim

I'd like to see a more active and connected membership, more member participation in local campaigns and actions, and continued collaboration with unions. Goals I would set for the steering committee include regular commmunication with all committees, getting to know as many members of the chapter as possible, and creating a welcoming, sustainable culture for the chapter.

As a member of the steering committee, how would you work to improve engagement from our general membership?

As Secretary I would work closely with the Communications Director to make sure that all chapter events and activities are communicated to the membership in a timely fashion with short, catchy copy and arrangement that is easy to follow.

Why are you a democratic socialist?

I'm a socialist because I believe that more public ownership and control of the means of production will result in a more equitable, pleasant, and kinder society where everyone can pursue their passions and live a peaceful life in a relatively stable, life sustaining climate. Socialism is the best way to counter the destructive tendencies of concentrated capital and the profit motive.

Optional Statement

Thank you for your consideration.

Candidate for Organizer: Emily S.

Definitely member retention and recruitment. I want to continue our new member orientation, do list work to maintain our current membership, and host more social events to boost engagement and connect folks to the work of our committees.

As a member of the steering committee, how would you work to improve engagement from our general membership?

Similar to the above, I think using events with a low barrier to entry (ie social events, mutual aid mondays, movie nights) to connect less involved members to our committee work will improve engagement across the board.

Why are you a democratic socialist?

The domination of our two party system by bourgeois interests has lead to a government and economy that goes against the better interests of the american working class. The DSA is the best vehicle in America today to offer a socialist alternative that is pro worker and anti imperialist. I feel as a socialist its my obligation to be a part of this movement.

Optional Statement

I am willing to work on the steering committee in an position, but feel id be best suited to be an organizer.

Motion To Endorse CalCare

WHEREAS every person deserves high quality health care as an essential human right; and

WHEREAS nearly 30 million people in the United States do not have health insurance, between 8 and 24 million people are expected to lose their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage by May 2024, and at least 23% of working-age adults in the U.S. are underinsured despite gains made since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act; and

WHEREAS nearly 3.2 million Californians do not have health insurance, up to 3 million Californians are expected to lose their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage by May 2024, and half of Californians report skipping or delaying health care due to cost; and

WHEREAS Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America is committed to fighting for a democratic socialist vision of single-payer health care based on DSA's 5 Principles:

A single public health care program -- Everyone will be covered by one health care program and have equal access to all medical services and treatments.
Comprehensive coverage -- All services requiring a medical professional will be fully covered. You can go to the doctor or provider of your choice. Dental, vision, hearing, mental health, pharmaceuticals, and long-term services and supports are all included.
Free at the point of service -- All health care costs will be financed through tax contributions based on ability to pay: no copays, no fees, no deductibles, and no premiums. Ever.
Universal coverage -- Coverage for all United States residents — non-citizens included.
Just transition -- A jobs initiative and severance for those affected by the transition; and

WHEREAS the Medicare for All Act of 2023 (H.R.3421 and S.1655 in the 2023-2024 congressional session) and the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act (AB 1400 in the 2021-2022 CA legislative session), also known as CalCare, meet these principles; these systems would decommodify health insurance and guarantee health care as a right, regardless of income, employment, or citizenship status, and by uncoupling insurance from employment, Medicare for All and CalCare would build power for the multiracial working class; and

WHEREAS the Medicare for All Act of 2023 and the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act would guarantee health care free at the point of service for every person in the United States and California, respectively, for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs; hospital, surgical, and outpatient services; primary and preventive care; emergency services; reproductive care; dental and vision care; mental health; and long-term care; and

WHEREAS the current profit-driven health care system is a racist form of state sanctioned violence against Black, Indigenous, Latino, and other people of color, and socially determined racial disparities in health outcomes must be addressed by a universal health care system that provides guaranteed comprehensive care, free at the point of service; and

WHEREAS multiple economic studies and the numerous examples of health care systems in other countries show that Medicare for All and other single-payer systems are more efficient and cost far less than the current profit-driven health care system; and that even further savings, along with people-centered, health equity, could be achieved by socializing the delivery of care, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America will organize alongside DSA’s national Medicare for All Committee, other California DSA chapters, and allied organizations to simultaneously fight for the Medicare for All Act of 2023 and the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act through a wide range of tactics.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America endorses the CalCare campaign and will send representatives to monthly CalCare Organizing Table meetings convened by the California Nurses Association to explore collaboration on organizing activities.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America will continue to advocate for eventual elimination of private, for-profit provision of actual health care services, pharmaceuticals and health care equipment, to be replaced by a truly socialized system as exists, for example, in the UK and Cuba, and in our country for veterans.

Estimated cost: The healthcare committee anticipates that the total cost of printing, signs, banners, and translation will be less than $200 per year.