RE: [Marxism] Reply to Jeff Cohen

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There's no doubt but that Kerry's campaign inspires little
enthusiasm these days among his more leftward-minded voters.

His endorsement of the Bush administration's invasion of
Iraq, his endorsement of Bush's endorsement of the Sharon
policy of assassination for Palestinian leaders marks his
as a particularly servile example of what the Democratic
Party has to offer. He actually hasn't spoken out against
the torture, either. He just says that if he were president,
he wouldn't have been the last to know. It's obvious that a
giant coverup is going on and many more photos are still to
come. I keep wondering what was in that supposed "pornography"
which Muslim chaplain Capt. James Y. Yee was punished over
actually looked like.

Nevertheless, Kerry has struck a somewhat different posture
in relation to Cuba, one which is worth noting carefully as
the leadership in Cuba certainly has. While he has pretty-
much mealy-mouthed his previous flip-floppery regarding the
Helms-Burton law, for example, he has quietly and rather
consistently said he favors opening up visitation to Cuba.

He has likewise done nothing to indicate he would either
cut down or cut off remittances. Since most people in the
United States don't think Cuba is at the center of their
universe, it's no surprise that Kerry wouldn't go out of
his way on this issue. And while he's to the right of the
Bush administration in relation to Venezuela, he didn't
make any effort to endorse Bush's package of secretely-
composed anti-Cuba packages which were released last week.

In time they will have debates and perhaps a more definitive
image of Kerry's position on Cuba will come out. We'll see.

Clearly Bush and Kerry, in relation to Cuba, are appealing
to a different demographic. Bush seeks the support of those
Cubans who left the island in the sixties, the oldest and
most reactionary ones. I'm not certain of the percentages
registered to vote, but among the most virulent Cuba-haters,
a certain number have never taken out US citizenship and so
can't vote.

Younger Cubans and those who left the island since Mariel in
1980 are, regardless of their attitude toward the government
and Revolution in Cuba, go back more frequently and also send
more money back to their families on the island. And there are
many other immigrants in Florida who either aren't Cuban or
who otherwise, like most people in the United States when they
think about it, in favor of the right to travel anywhere, and
who don't like the veto power over government policy which is
retained by the rightist exiles.

Nader hasn't made much of an impression so far. Unless I'm
missing something, he hasn't spoken up on the torture issue.

He spoke well about Cuba a while back when he went to Cuba,
but he's been largely ignored, when not normally vilified, in
the capitalist media. Other than on Iraq, Nader's website has
no statement of any foreign policy agenda, an odd absence:
http://www.votenader.org/issues/index.php Oh, and by the way,
there's nothing in Spanish on Nader's website, either.

George W. Bush is a TERRIBLE president and SHOULD BE DEFEATED.
Most people who are opposed to the war, in my opinion, based
on the way things look right NOW, are going to vote for Kerry
to get Bush out of office. This is an understandable approach.

Not voting isn't the same as actively abstaining, or calling
for a spoiled ballot or some other such way to protest. It's
my view that most people don't vote in the United States out
of disgust, apathy and despair. These are not building blocks
for a positive, forward political movement, in my opinion.

Kerry is no inspiration, but criticism of a political strategy
of supporting the Democratic Party shouldn't blind people to
areas, however, small, of difference between the elephant and
the jackass, which do appear to be genuine. I tend in general
to maintain what I learned in the Socialist Workers Party re:
not supporting Democrats and Republicans. Given the lack of a
substantial movement toward a solid alternative, I don't see
much point in sharp polemics against those who continue to do
the same old thing. We'll be working with them on the upcoming
demonstrations, no matter what we say about them at this time.

As long as most people on the left and most of what passes for
"progressive" politics in the United States continue to believe
that supporting the Democrats is their best shot at bringing
about a change, the Democrats will get their vote. I hope that
they are elected because when they're in office, they continue
the process of exhausting the illusions people have in them.

It's also interesting to note that the various very small left
parties which often run their own symbolic election campaigns,
such as the SWP, WWP, SP and others haven't announced anything.

The only actual left candidate who is currently on the ballot
is Leonard Peltier who won the Peace and Freedom Party primary.
I voted for Peltier in the primary. His material, by the way,
didn't have a word on Cuba in it.


Walter Lippmann
===============================================================

LOUIS WROTE:
As most people know, a lot of the wind has gone out of the sails of the
ABB movement, such as it was. As Kerry keeps shifting to the right, it is
harder and harder to make the case that his election will reverse the
nation's headlong drive to the right. Voices still supporting Kerry tend
to have an apologetic quality.
---------------------------------------------------
By contrast, working people and their allies can only move forward through
mass action. Although it is useful to run candidates to educate the
population about the need, for example, to fight the Cold War or illusions
about neo-liberalism, it is folly to expect peace and economic justice to
come about through winning elections. As the crisis of American capitalism
deepens, it will become necessary to break through such illusions rather
than strengthen them as Jeff Cohen does.





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