Notes From a Real Subaru Socialist

A brief digression from my usual anime & video games focused writing to respond to a newly proposed segment of the left coalition, the Subaru Socialist. Why it misses the mark, and why co-opting a brand already associated with leftist causes in a new identity formation is bad vibes.

Michael Lee

In a series of articles for the New Yorker, Jay Caspian Kang has identified a 'new' type of socialist forming in response to the ever worsening conditions that capitalism is subjecting us to. As the decaying carcass of the American empire is picked clean by private equity vultures, and wealth disparity reaches Gilded Age levels, the upper middle class can no longer springboard off the backs of their lower middle class brethren up into the bourgeoisie. Having lost their grip on that last rung of the ladder, pulled up and out of reach by the truly wealthy, these aspirational climbers have fallen back down to Earth. Lucky for them all of us already down here can break their fall.

Now, class consciousness can be awakened at any point in one's life, and that's great. Welcome to the team. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to realize that under capitalism, particularly in the late capitalism, effective accelerationism, capitalist realism hellscape we live in now, things are pretty dire and banding together against the elites is the way to be. As it stands, this system is hurtling towards what feels like an intentionally orchestrated collapse and we, the under class, are being chucked into late capital's meat grinder. And as the machine opens its giant maw to swallow us whole, the upper middle class can feel the machine's teeth nipping at their heels and they have started to turn towards socialism as perhaps an alternative for a better future.

"Save us socialism!" They cry, upon realizing their good friend capitalism has decided to leave them out in a heat dome to die. I didn't think the leopard would eat my face.

What's troubling about Prince Caspian's creation of the term Subaru Socialist is that if it gains traction, it is a really trendy-sounding descriptor that could easily be used against the left. Getting an MFA from Columbia does come with the ability to turn a phrase it would seem, as Subaru Socialist is something the DNC and Third Wayers wish they could have workshopped into existence to hurl at folks on the left. But worse, and truly at the heart of the matter for me at least, is that it comes off as a larp. It co-opts a brand already known for lefty crunchiness and bestows it upon this newly landed class of economic and political refugee. The once faithful believers in Capitalism, chasers of the American Dream, have been cast aside by the system they once praised and need a cute moniker to show they're 'one of us' now.

Subaru Forester (anime ver.) | Yuru Camp

My Subaru is a 2011 Forester. It gets me where I need to go, though it's not without its quirks. I'm currently dealing with an oil leak that creates these exciting puffs of white smoke from under the hood. I've been told it isn't serious, but when up a mountain road with no cell service, it is unnerving to see nonetheless. I just had to redo the front brakes entirely as the car developed a nasty wobble at speed, the calipers had seized. I had wanted an Outback, the early 2010s Outback was more wagon-like in design and I like that. A nice Australian gal was selling one, but I was second on the list to have a look at it, and of course the first guy took it. As a used car buyer, you take what you can get, and the universe decided the Forester was to be my chosen vehicle.

The only reason I even have this car is because I've been priced out of the city I grew up in. I went away for school, and came back to a place that would no longer have me. Sorry, too poor. So now I live 100 kilometers out of town, in an outdoorsy community surrounded by snow-capped peaks. Hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter. Truth be told, it's kinda nice. But it was also the only place a poor socialist like me could find a one-bedroom apartment for me and my cat. Do I have to deal with wildfire smoke from time to time? Sadly, yes. I don't get to breathe the same clean Berkeley air as some people. I can't afford the million dollar asking price.

when I can see the mountains around me instead of smoke, they look this cool.

I bought my used Subaru because it was what I could afford and it does the things I need it to do living where I do. But as the vehicle market has exploded since the pandemic, Subarus have sneakily become one of the most economical options on the market. They're truly a working class car. A CrossTrek is a sub-$30,000 car, and while it is a little gutless, and the storage space could be better, all-wheel drive is standard and it gets you where you need to go reliably. Which is why it really sticks in my craw that a successful author living in Berkeley has swooped in to claim this working class brand as his identity.

And besides co-opting a brand we on the left already ostensibly claimed, if not economically, then surely culturally, when reading Prince Caspian's work it is that clear the Subaru Socialist name came first, surely in a "how droll" moment of self-congratulation, and the identity and core politics of the imagined class came after, as the definition, across the two pieces written so far, is a jumbled mess. Who even is a Subaru Socialist? This needs to be interrogated because if you can't identify what the politics of a Subaru Socialist are, it can easily be shaped and vilified into whatever Fox News or Establishment Democrats want to spin it as.

The Subaru Socialist seems to be only a socialist in so far as they have been wronged by the economy. Capitalism has stifled their expectations of guaranteed upward mobility and that drives their recent voting record. Yet, despite these folks ‘still finding themselves working at Starbucks or in an Amazon warehouse’ (this ‘stuckness’ of course being a classist, and likely racist, statement off the bat here), they are also somehow "high-achieving, mostly white voters" who “make the median household income for their neighborhood and work a steady job that allows them to put away a modest amount of money each month in a retirement account.” So which is it? Are they doing fine, just not corner office fine, or do they truly work in the hell that is an Amazon warehouse (also speaking of Amazon, nice Amazon link to Noam Scheiber's book there… sometimes it's the little things). There's a huge difference in worldviews to be found on a spectrum so wide. I guarantee you a retail worker who doubles as an Uber driver doesn’t see things like a Columbia MFA-holding author. So you have to be clear about what the thread is that connects these people. But as we'll see, this new class isn't as diverse as all of the job descriptors would have you believe.

Oreki & Chitanda in a coffee shop gentrifying Takayama City | Hyouka

Now, do Subaru Socialists even drive Subarus? The cultural markers and signifiers used indicate that yes, they might actually. That's because while it seems like the term could apply to any person who feels like they’re just spinning their wheels stuck in a middle class rut, the author goes on to describe the Subaru Socialist as simply a white urbanite. It's a revilification of the hipster, a decade later! Look at them, gentrifying neighborhoods, listening to indie music, apparently driving Subarus, and oh yes, you bet they're wearing Patagonia fleece (thanks for taking this one from me too, bougie urbanites).

Also, there is mention later on of a fictitious Subaru Socialist who dreams of opening a coffee shop if only Kamala Harris would help the middle class, but these gentrifying invaders of immigrant neighborhoods apparently open coffee shops when they take over these neighborhoods, so which is it? Can they afford to open coffee shops or not? Also why is it always coffee shops? What is this tired 2012 flat white millennial slop, Prince Caspian? Yawn.

There is also this undeniable thread that runs through the pieces that make Subaru Socialists out to be incredibly self-centered, solipsistic, woe begotten sods. We didn't believe that Kamala would help us open some made up coffee shop we wanted after she was so magnanimous as to propose fixes to save 'long suffering' middle class individuals. We also think that establishment candidates suck because we Subaru Socialists were sold a bad deal to study, go to college, and if we did, we'd end up better off than our parents, and we're PISSED about that (this is not why we hate establishment candidates). And in reflecting on his own status as a Subaru Socialist, Prince Caspian wonders about the future for his daughter in almost purely economic terms. "Will she have health care? Could she ever afford to buy a home? How close would she be to ending up in much worse shape than her parents?" Like yes, economic concerns are a part of socialist energy, but all of the economic gripes here can’t get past the level of the individual.

Oh, and nice attempt at name dropping the tech oligarchy, though once again, only in economic terms, "How much wealth would be captured by [them], and how far would she be from earning some of that money?" again, why does it come back to the money, man? Perhaps I'm just paranoid, but when Palantir CEO Alex Karp says he would like to use drones to spray fentanyl-laced urine on detractors of AI, I don't think "dang, I hope he doesn't take all my money…" I'm thinking "holy shit, this psycho might kill me!" I mean, given that drones have been used in the monstrous killing of innocent Palestians in Gaza (an apparent non-issue for Subaru Socialists), the tech oligarchy isn't just hoarding wealth, they could be, and are in fact proving they already are, capable of much worse than that.

Destroyed Village | Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

And while these pieces appear to be mere thoughts and not a more encompassing political positioning, how is there no consideration for the environment anywhere to be found? Capitalism is polluting and plundering our planet, and as climate change accelerates, wildfires will burn hotter and in more places, monsoons will flood New York & Tokyo's subway systems on the regular, plants & animals will go extinct, and the AMOC ocean current system in the North Atlantic could collapse, drastically changing weather patterns worldwide.

This is yet another blind spot, and it once again speaks to the privilege enjoyed by the author. He worries for his daughter's future, but Prince Caspian has no concerns for the environment because little Rillian won't ever have to be a climate refugee. The Bay Area will be relatively fine. And again, his solidarity with the under class only extends so far, so there's no shot that the author has even considered how climate change will ruin people in the third world before it ever reaches the comfortable confines of California's coast.

All this is why 'Subaru Socialist' as described feels like a disingenuous politics. One that likes the aesthetics of class solidarity and equality, but is ultimately self-interested. It is socialism in the way that a bank in 2008 wanted socialism. With a fat government bailout to make sure you get yours, but not giving a shit about the folks who you trampled on to get where you are. You're too upper middle class to fail. And making any attempts at major structural reforms that would create more equitable conditions for all people to have a shot at success or improve the quality of their lives is too much work. "Just cut me a check and I'll look the other way on police brutality, the surveillance state, and genocide."

We need a strong coalition to take on big tech, private equity and the moronic MAGA movement and the creeping fascism that brings, but the approach is misguided here. We don’t just want our money back, we want to dismantle the power structures that created the conditions for this exploitation to take place. Don't humor us by trying to claim our symbols as your own in an attempt to fit in. Just own up to being a successful rich guy, be a class traitor, and get in the mud with us. Hasan Piker makes no qualms about the success he's found streaming on Twitch, but his solidarity in the socialist movement extends to all people caught in the struggle. He uses his platform to shine light on issues that regular folk wouldn't be able to get anyone to care about. The author also name drops Chapo Trap House's Will Meneker, identifying Will's empathy as a key to his solidarity with the working class, despite his privileged upbringing. Empathy, which the author seems to lack. Will retweets fundraisers for Palestinians struggling in Gaza consistently and has no time for shit ass politicians spewing platitudes about being for the working class. He sees through the bullshit that deep down you seem to want to still believe.

Judau Ashta | Gundam ZZ

So instead of larping as a crunchy Subaru driver, what can you do, successful author man? Host fundraisers for DSA-backed candidates, invite your powerful friends in the publishing world and convince them to stop supporting centrist dems and status quo candidates. We're not going to Jon Ossoff or Josh Shapiro our way out of this mess. Losers like them will only capitulate to capitalism endlessly. Change the narrative by writing stronger critiques for the New Yorker instead of putting kid gloves on when talking about Palestine, “the war in Gaza” and "young Democrats believe their tax dollars are funding genocide” is bitch ass, condescending centrist talk. Give a shit about the environmental regulations that are being decimated by the Trump administration. Oppose data centers. We don't care if you drive a Subaru to earn brownie points, it doesn't make you cool. Just get in the ring and fight, man.