[Marxism] Yesterday's primary elections: Ron Dellums and Igancio de la Fuente!

[Anthony Boynton <northbogota@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello everybody (again):

Yesterday's primary elections in the United States
were real yawners, except for a few important details.

The most important was the Congressional election in
San Diego. The Republican who won the seat vacated by
the crook, looks to be equally crooked. He won the
race by an unvarnished appeal to anti-immigrant
racism.

This, plus anti-gay rights, looks like the Republican
formula to ward off otherwise certain doom in
November.

This guy's victory (his name is Balbray or something
like that) was only possible because of low voter
turn-out, guarantee by apathy among the majority of
voters (it was, according to the Sacramento Bee, the
lowest primary election turnout in California
history.)

The repbulicans are aware of this, and are strongly
workibng to remove voters from the election rolls, or
put obstacles in the path of voting by poor and
minortiy voters.

The Democratic Party could take control of the House
and Senate in November, but they may not.

They could easily if they fight aggressively on the
key issues facing the USA: corruption, war,
immigration. But to do this they would need to
mobilize poor and minortiy voters. Something they fear
almost as much as the Repbulicans.

The Republicans stink of corruption so strongly that
you can smell it on every continent.

Everything Bush has done is a failure in terms of
political policy for the ruling class - except his
policy of ripping off the government to benefit his
cronies. Ferdinand Marcos was a piker when it comes to
this stuff. George Bush may be dull about English
grammar and geography, but not about graft.

Their wars are failures, and have become unpopular.

So the republicans have to demobillize the majority,
energize the racist, sexist, bigotted minorities, and
count on the combination of political cowrdice of the
Democrats, and the absence of the left.

Does the left have an opportunity here?

Will a wing of the Democrats which aggressively
mbilizes poor and minority voters emerge in Novemeber?

Will the left try to field a visible electoral
alternative to the Democrats and Republicans in
November?

>From here the answers to both questions look like No.

But I could be wrong.

The most intriguing bit of news from the oprimaries
that I saw came from Oakland, California. It appears
tha Ron Dellums, the anti-War Democratic Congressman
of the 1960's and 70's will be the new mayor of
Oakland.

Can this be true?

Even more interesting is that he, apparently, narrowly
defeated Ignacio de la Fuente, once the radical leader
of the Boilermakers Union in Oakland, now the
President of the Oakland City Council, for the job at
city Hall.

(All made possible because most recent Oakland Mayor
Jerry Brown, once the governor of California and
"small is better" presidential candidate, is trying to
move on up to be California state Attorney General!)

As far as I could tell by looking at websites around
the country, there is virtually nothing happening
tothe left of the Democratic Party for the November
elections in the United States.

If there is, maybe someone on this list can write
something.

All the best, Anthony





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