[Marxism] Re: Bush's Speech [A response to Zell Miller's speech]

[Suresh <borhyaenid@xxxxxxxxx>]

Even if Kerry achieves a bare plurality in November
and wins the election, it is extremely likely - to the
point of being almost a given - that the Republican
Party and right-wing network of periodicals,
think-tanks, and cable outlets will hound the incoming
Democrat for his entire term of office. The corruption
of the Clinton White House didn't create the
scandal-mongerers, as much as they made the scandals.
And this despite the overwhelmingly conservative
(though termed moderate) agenda pursued during the
90's. I don't think for one moment that we're required
to take sides in this struggle between two political
factions representing the bourgeoisie, but it doesn't
take a political scientist to recognize where American
democracy is headed. Mr. Alam has rightly pointed to
the implication of the millions of evangelical,
fundamentalist social conservatives in the U.S.
heartland and so-called Bible Belt and the difficulty
posed to any radical or Marxist left in attempting to
form a counter-hegemony. If ever an authoritarian
regime is desired or required by the plutocracy, these
masses may serve as a battering ram to crush any
resistance. While the Democrats continue to fulfill
their function of policing the left, by herding
wavering Greens and Hollywood stars back under the big
umbrella, the Republicans increasingly have taken it
upon themselves to police the entire opposing party.
And these trends exhibit no signs of declining anytime
soon. I don't believe it's too economistic to root
these developments in declining profit rates and
ferocious global competition for investment and for
scare resources.

How else can we explain President Bush announcing to
the world that "nothing will hold us back", i.e.
nothing will prevent America from expanding it's
empire, or Zell Miller devoting much of his speech to
tabulating the defense systems that Kerry supposedly
opposed:

"The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped
40 percent of the bombs in the first six months of
Operation Enduring Freedom.

The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered
air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and
Hussein's command post in Iraq.

The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot
down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The
modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed,
delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.

The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed,
took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the
Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed,
flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very
city after 9/11.

I could go on and on and on: against the Patriot
Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles
over Israel; against the Aegis air-defense cruiser;
against the Strategic Defense Initiative; against the
Trident missile; against, against, against."

I've never been convinced by the notion that a quietly
rational bourgeoisie reigns in Wall Street even while
jingoists and hard-liners preside in the Beltway.
Once, a similar perception gained currency in the
Kremlin under Khrushchev - with catastrophic results.
The U.S. is again on the warpath, the Democrats and
Republicans have rehabilitated Vietnam, and are
burying that war's "syndrome" with piles of Iraqi and
American dead. A profound capitalistic imperative is
being satisfied in this; the need to make up for
decades of lost time ruthlessly containing (via proxy
wars and coups) and being partially contained by the
Soviet Union and bloc of socialist states, and doing
so before any new great powers emerge. The U.S. is
attempting to stack the geopolitical decks for
generations to come, just as Great Britain managed to
do for almost the whole 19th century.


                
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