RE: Burton vs. Britton

[Dayne Goodwin <dayneg@xxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003, Eli Stephens wrote:

> Jose wrote:
> >I'm flabbergasted that a self-proclaimed "socialist" group would
> >actually have called for a vote for Gray Davis.
>
>
> Haven't we been over this ground around three times already? A "No" vote on
> the recall was not a vote "for" Gray Davis, who was not even on the ballot,
> and even if you think it was an "effective" vote for Davis, that certainly
> doesn't turn a group calling for a "No" vote on the recall into one which
> "called for a vote for Gray Davis," no more than a group calling for a "Yes"
> vote on the recall should be labelled as one which "called for a vote for
> Arnold Schwarzenegger." This is just plain nonsense.
>

        I have to agree with you, Eli.  What you say above is just plain
nonsense: 'voting to keep Gray Davis in office is not voting to keep Gray
Davis in office.'
        Here's a revolutionary socialist perspective on California recall
election:

[from Socialist Worker, newspaper of the International Socialist
Organization; obviously written before Huffington withdrawal]

WHAT WE THINK
Why Peter Camejo deserves your vote in California
A real alternative in the recall circus

October 3, 2003 | Page 3

THE REALITIES of California's recall election stood exposed last week
during the 90 minutes of mayhem that passed for a debate between the top
candidates to replace Gov. Gray Davis. In his only debate before the
October 7 vote, media darling Arnold Schwarzenegger tried not to open his
mouth--but couldn't help showing himself to be a celebrity front man for
Republican business interests when he did.

With his patronizing disdain for Arianna Huffington, he undid weeks of
carefully orchestrated efforts by his handlers to prove that he isn't a
sexist pig. Incredibly, this Neanderthal managed to emerge with more
support after the debate, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll
released last weekend.

That's because his main opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, is
so pathetic. During the debate, Bustamante pretended to have nothing to do
with the economic and political crisis that the state has suffered through
during his years as second-in-command to Davis. But his tanking poll
numbers show that people aren't buying it.

Huffington, meanwhile, is running a vanity campaign. Her support for
charter schools and refusal to consider raising property taxes on the rich
shows that she's not interested in building a real alternative to the
status quo, as she claims.

Only Peter Camejo of the Green Party presented a case that California
voters should listen to. He spoke out for universal health care and
affordable housing, he opposed George Bush's occupation of Iraq and the
Washington war machine, and he said the magic words that could solve the
state's huge budget deficit--tax the rich. In an Internet poll in the San
Francisco Chronicle, 31 percent of people named Camejo the winner of the
debate, the best showing of any candidate--a stunning result for someone
who has been dismissed all along as irrelevant by the mainstream media.

Gray Davis still has a chance to survive next week's vote. Until last
weekend, opinion polls showed support for the recall declining. This isn't
because Davis has become more popular. He remains justly despised by
millions of people for presiding over the state's budget crisis--and
trying to make working people pay for it.

But voters have gotten a look at the leading contenders to replace
Davis--and they don't like what they see. Ultimately, this election is an
attempt by both Democrats and Republicans to escape their responsibility
for California's crisis.

Voters in the recall election will first have to choose "yes" or "no" on
whether Davis should be removed from office. A "no" vote clearly would be
a vote to keep Davis as governor. But the main forces pushing for a "yes"
vote--and the main beneficiaries of Davis' removal from office--are the
Republicans. With either result, ordinary Californians get the shaft.

That's why we call for Socialist Worker readers in California to abstain
on the recall question. But there is an alternative on the second part on
the ballot--who should replace Davis if he is removed.

Peter Camejo has spoken out for a real alternative from the status quo
presided over by the mainstream parties. We believe that he deserves our
readers' vote.

And California voters should also oppose the racist Proposition 54--the
deceptively titled Racial Privacy Initiative, which would harm efforts to
address discrimination by barring the state government from collecting
information about race and ethnicity.

Camejo isn't likely to become the next governor of California on October
7. But a substantial vote for him will send the message that people want
more than a choice between the two sets of misleaders who drove the state
into a ditch--and who want ordinary people to pay to get it out.


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