Re: [Marxism] Al Lewis clarification

[Mike Friedman <mikedf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

More time, a more detailed response.

First, I resent the patronizing tone of your response. I have some respect
for Freedom Road, largely due to my old friends Juliet and Dennis, but your
self-righteous response hardly does justice to your organization. Second,
we should be clear that your organization was of the
"hold-the-nose-but-vote-for-Kerry wing of the ABBers, as expressed by a
March statement by FRSO, which after lambasting Bush at length (deservedly
so), goes on to state:


> The U.S. electoral system gives the people limited choices. It's a given
> that the Democrat Party - the other party of the rich - typically does the
> bidding of whoever gives them the most money. It is a political party of
> the corporate elite. In the final analysis, all really important political
> issues are decided by struggle. No one elected in the next presidential
> elections is going to bring the American people, or any one else for that
> matter, peace and prosperity. Over the long run we need independent
> political action that is hostile to the parties of the rich.
>
> That said, the defeat of Bush would represent a rejection of the entire
> direction that this country is heading, and will create new and favorable
> conditions for the people's movements to advance their agendas.
>
> The November 2004 elections are a referendum on Bush and everything he
> stands for. Kicking Bush out of office will send a powerful message to the
> rich who rule this country and to people around the world who are
> resisting 'empire.' By building a movement against Bush - a movement that
> stands for peace, justice and equality - we will be in a better position
> to fight for the things we need, no matter who takes office in January
> 2005. [http://www.frso.org/]

Thus, I can understand your defense of Lewis' position. My short statement
was implicitly an attack on FRSO's position. Just to clarify, I don't
reject all of Lewis' past history or current activism, such as his work
around the Rockefeller drug laws, which I know that folks from your group
work on. I was really disappointed that much of WBAI, including Lewis,
folded into the Kerry campaign. And, as I said, Lewis did indeed campaign
actively for Kerry and denounce Nader on the air. This most assuredly is a
"bridge to the democrats." I won't repeat all of the reasons stated ad
nauseum on this listserve why this was a bad thing. But, it would be
illogical for Lewis to turn around and blame the Democratic campaign he
stumped diligently for, for its own demise, on the very grounds for which
he attacked the Nader campaign. That is, the bottom line is that Kerry lost
to Bush because he offered nothing substantively different, and lacked
Bush's Big Brother appeal, to boot. Lewis and other ABBers argued that, on
the contrary, Kerry was better (or "less worse," to use doublespeak, since
I've already used an Orwellism) and that we just had to vote for him to get
Bush out of office. It would make no sense for Lewis to now go back and
acknowledge that he was wrong all along the line, especially since in four
years he may have to do the same thing again. Much easier to blame gays or
some other "perro flaco" (as in "el perro flaco atrae las pulgas").




At 09:41 AM 11/14/2004, you wrote:
> From: "Ethan Young" <ethanyoung@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Marxism] Al Lewis
> To: <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Message-ID: <004401c4ca06$c511f740$091ff7a5@your24b0kwvrmn>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> I guess
> since Lewis couldn't go after Nader this year, he had to go after someone on
> the left, so as not to burn his Democratic bridges.
>
> MikeIt is a shallow, knee-jerk reaction that leads some to believe that if
> this or that soul chooses not to support this or that independent
> candidate, the soul in question must be a Democrat, or is covering for the
> Democrats.Al Lewis's claim that the gay marriage issue cost Kerry the
> election is off the wall. This is not the first time he has shot from the
> lip with outrageous and offensive remarks. But he deserves respect
> anyway;he has been through more shit than all of his detractors put
> together.For the record, as every NYS Green knows, he has no Democratic
> bridges to save or burn.I do not know him personally; just want to clear
> this up.Ethan Young


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