Fwd: What if the Republicans were ousted from control of Congress?

[Chris Burford]

At 14:17 10/07/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Isn't this a static, rather than a dynamic analysis.  Although Clinton got 
>trade
>deals through that the Repugs could not, some of his policies were better than
>those of Bush or Dole.  But by giving Clinton a free ride, we get Gore in the
>next round.
>
>Slap them on the wrist a few election cycles and we might even get an 
>opposition
>party.

The CPUSA clearly have a point but the way the passage comes over looks 
like tailism.

The problem should not be about individuals preferring to vote Democrat but 
whether organisations devote their main energies to trying to bring this about.

On the other hand the proposition above also suggest a perspective within 
the bourgeois two party system - only hoping for a better opposition party. 
A few electoral cycles presumably means a strategy over 12 to 14 years. 
Perhaps 20. Sustained wrist slapping over that period of time without 
proportional representation would *increase* the likelihood of the main 
party of government retaining control of the assemblies. Unless you have a 
very articulate emerging opposition party, this will shift the perceived 
centre of politics to the right rather than the left. Two party politics 
will gravitate around this centre.

Isn't the need for organisations to link any propaganda on the electoral 
struggle to some strategic campaigns like reform of electoral funding, 
proportional representation, or ending the death penalty?

Chris Burford

London