one way socialists at the state/local level can improve the lives of their constituents is entering the stream of commerce. States can run banks & utilities. Cities can run grocery stores and hospitals. Show people that democratically-controlled industry beats capitalism.

there used to be public banks and public hospitals all over the country. Neoliberals hated them, but couldn't close them because of how popular they were. So instead they systematically defunded them and, over time, they became much less popular. Imagine that!

but socialists should get more imaginative. City-owned movie theatre. State-owned minor league sports team. County-owned skating rink. State-owned construction company. Anything capitalist can do, the state can do.

these enterprises would (1) pay workers fairly and recognize unions, (2) be controlled democratically, (3) make money for their citizens, and (4) drive down the costs of capitalist enterprises forced to compete with the state.

you can't get rid of capitalism overnight. You need to (1) build power, and (2) weaken capitalism's power. The more the economy is already controlled by the state, the less people fear socialism, and the less-positioned capital is to fight it. https://twitter.com/aughtnom/status/1360441228026814467?s=20

you build relationships through these entities, by running them in a more responsible way than capitalists do. And there's also the simple fact that every state-owned bank branch or grocery store is money out of capital's pocket https://twitter.com/aughtnom/status/1360443712443084803?s=20

the best way to address this is Postal Banking, which could be done via executive action. But Biden won't do it, because Biden sucks ass. So states and local govts need to step up. https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1360415086481985542?s=20