RE: [Marxism] US Elections 2004

["www.leninology. blogspot.com" <leninology@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yoshie, I absolutely agree with your analysis.  It matters less who is in
power than what pressures are placed on them by an active populace.

Lesser-evilism is neither a moral conception, nor a sound strategy. It
preserves nothing that its supposed to and gives up even more than it admits
to.

I recall a similar debate over the California gubernatorial campaign (I'm
from the UK, so forgive me if I've got that wrong), where liberals called
for a Democrat vote just to keep Arnie out.

Height of arrogance here, but I'm going to quote myself at the time:

"Here's the rub. Those who said "I'd rather support the Democrats than let
the party of unalloyed bigotry, imperialism and class rule get another seat"
now no longer have to choose. They got both. Indeed, one reason Arnold
(apparently) got such a high vote is that his opponent was someone
absolutely despised (and justifiably so) by most of the electorate. The
Democrats naturally sullied themselves by supporting Davis, and a vote for
Bustamante was inevitably going to be seen as a vote for Davis.

It is becoming a depressing characteristic of the timid liberal-left that
they automatically consolidate themselves with the centre-liberal bloc if
there's the faintest threat from a rightist. In this case, it wasn't even a
terrifying rightist like Le Pen or Jorg Haider - it was a socially liberal,
effette Hollywood actor! Even the old canards about abortion and lifestyle
could not have been issues, because Arnold was both pro-choice and pro-gay.
And the result, as Slavoj Zizek put it, is that the "populist Right moves to
occupy the terrain evacuated by the Left, as the only ?serious? political
force that still employs an anti-capitalist rhetoric?if thickly coated with
a nationalist/racist/religious veneer (international corporations are
?betraying? the decent working people of our nation)."

Another aspect of this dismal dialectic is the attitude to corruption.
Graccius' reputed claim that he would prefer a bit of Republican corruption
to autocratic purity has become the watchword of the liberal Left. One US
election campaign urged people to "VOTE FOR A CROOK - IT'S IMPORTANT"
because the alternative was a far Right ranting racist. This may just as
well have been the slogan of the Chirac supporters in France."

You can read the whole article here:

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_leninology_archive.html#106563934992872366

Cheers.

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