[Marxism] Welding the links against ... [improved]

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maine 2004 Election Results:
Kerry           Democrat                364,153 53%
Bush            Republican              308,997 45%
Nader           Independent             7,476   1.1%
Cobb            Green                   2,764   0.4%*
Badnarik                Libertarian             1,855   0.3%
Peroutka                Constitution            1,265   0.2%
http://www.mainetoday.com/elections/2004/

As of earlier this year in Maine, the Green Party
had 19,006 registered members, or about 2 percent
of the total enrolled voters. Maine has 297,831
registered Democrats, 274,727 registered Republicans
and 365,921 unenrolled voters, according to the
Maine Secretary of State's Office.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G591256C9
______________

Of course, we don't know which Maine registered voters turned out for  
Nader and Cobb. Many were undoubtedly Independents, rather than  
registered Greens. But if we assume that both Nader and Cobb only  
received Green votes, then Nader/Camejo got 40% of the Maine Green  
vote, while Cobb/LaMarche received only 15.5%. Maine Greens and  
independents were 2.5 to 1 for the independent Nader/Camejo campaign  
over the “strategic for Kerry” Cobb/LaMarche campaign. This indicates  
that the left base of the Maine Green Party, which had its own native  
daughter as Cobb’s running mate, consciously chose the candidates who  
favored an independent electoral course over a “safe states” strategy.

However, the Maine Green delegation for the Green Party national  
convention was “elected about half and half each for Ralph Nader and  
David Cobb, with a couple of Undecided and Nobody delegates.  After the  
first round of voting at the national convention, all but one of the  
Maine delegates voted for Cobb, the one other vote was for Nader.”  
(August 2004 e-mail from Ben Meiklejohn)

Most Maine Greens followed the Cobb/LaMarche strategy and voted for  
Kerry. As LaMarche said right after her nomination for vice-president,  
there was the possibility that Maine itself could be a “battleground”  
state; she may have ended up voting for Kerry herself.

Although the combined Green Party candidates got 1.4% of the Maine  
vote, local GP candidates got from 19 to 52 percent--a Portland  
candidate was re-elected to the Maine House of Representatives with 52%  
of the vote.

Despite the claim that the “safe-states” local-candidate strategy will  
help the party grow, this strategy leads to the Green Party becoming  
more closely integrated as a wing of the Democratic Party. Supporters  
are urged to vote for the Greens locally, but hand national power off  
to “the lesser evil.” This is a “slightly left” variant of traditional  
Democratic Party liberalism. The DP has thousands of liberal or “left”  
figures who are 100% pure on many domestic issues, including the  
environment, single-payer health insurance, etc., but who are  
completely welded to the hierarchy of DP elected officials. This  
continuum runs from California Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg and  
Congressman Dennis Kucinich to Ted Kennedy. During the 1960s there were  
New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug and Senator Eugene McCarthy.

The difference is that regular Democratic Party politicians don't call  
it a “lesser evil.” During the Democratic Party primary debates,  
Kucinich enthusiastically claimed that he would support any of his  
opponents against George Bush.

However, the result is the same. It’s a strategy and practice that ties  
those who want to be for social justice and against war and imperialism  
to the twin parties (one in, one out--“in waiting” or as “replacement  
troops”) of capitalist social and economic devastation and war.

Brian Shannon

The Brunswick ME article that stimulated me to write this note is at:
http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main.nsf/news.nsf/0/ 
35808C23A72E971305256F4A0059052F?Opendocument
or http://makeashorterlink.com/?G591256C9_______________________________________________
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