Re: [Marxism] Thoughts on the DNC

["Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Scotlive wrote of the Democratic party "convention":

> The last week we've witnessed the disgusting spectacle of the type of
> stage-managed theatre that Dr. Goebbels would have been proud. One after
the other,
> they've stood up to pronounce the intrinsic greatness of America, the
heroism
> of her amred forces, and the boundless opportunites which have allowed
them to
> go to college, to rise up and be successful. Out of their well-fed mouths
> spews the same disgusting rhetoric of individualism and talent being what
this
> great country is all about.
-----------------------------------------
Well, yes. I hope you're not too surprised. 9/11 has really exacerbated a
dangerous chauvinism which has always been present in American society,
especially since it became the dominant Western imperialist power, and this
is reflected in all of its institutions. At the same time, I don't think we
should ignore -- the media certainly hasn't -- that, despite the
stage-managed and conditioned applause for the keynote speakers, the
Democratic leadership, which has been whipping up this chauvinism in an
effort to oubid the Republicans, remains out of touch with its base.  I
suspect the wooly sentimental patriotism of the delegates is at least
matched by a bloodyminded zeal for going after the domestic and foreign
policies of the Bush administration -- the duplicitous and costly invasion
of Iraq, in particular -- and there is probably a good deal of frustration
at the restraints which have been imposed upon them. Sometimes that
frustration is sufficient to overcome their acquiescence to the leadership's
(very questionable) electoral strategy, which is how I viewed the strong
response to Sharpton's remarks, which were clearly at variance with the
Kerry team's instructions. I sensed a similar mood in relation to Edwards'
speech: the first part  -- the "two Americas" stuff drawing attention to the
US's class divisions -- was very warmly received, but the second part. the
jingoist pandering aimed over the heads of the convention at the so-called
"swing voters" and "moderate Republicans", seemed to me to fall flat. I
really do think the reception for Micheal Moore by this crowd would have
outstripped that for Bill Clinton and Barak Obama had he been allowed to
speak -- which, of course, is why he wasn't. Moore's F9/11, I suspect, is
where most of the active Democratic base is at in terms of its present
consciousness.

Sharpton's speech reminded me, incidentally, that I had thoughtlessly
neglected to mention the black base of the Democrats in drawing attention to
Andy Stern's remarks as a possible harbinger of "an emerging labour-led left
in the DP" in yesterday's post. The blacks and other minorities have an
equal or greater weight than labour, and, in recent times, a longer history
of disatisfaction with the party leadership, going back beyond the
unchallenged theft of the 2000 election to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow
coalition. So you could add them to the SEIU-AFSCME-Dean-Kucinich dry tinder
which I mentioned. It's been said so many times before, by myself included,
that I'm reluctant to say at again, but feel compelled to: Something seems
to be afoot in the DP and around its periphery. Whether a Kerry victory
would bring a halt to this restlessness at the base -- as Stern argues -- or
whether it will fuel popular expectations and protest, as under FDR and JFK,
is really impossible to predict and will depend on events.

Anyway, these dynamics interest me more than the surrounding and, as you
note, often quite ugly hoopla.

Marv Gandall





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