Disaster in France-What Must Be Done Now

[Michael McIntyre]

I see the principle: "Anyone voting for a candidate to the left of the rightmost candidate that Nathan Newman can currently manage to support is a stupid left sectarian."  Just give it time; you'll be lunching with Al From any day now.  Strategic voting isn't a taxi cab that you can hail at will and descend from at your leisure.  Once you've decided that it makes strategic sense to move to the right, and start trashing those to your left as idiotic splitters, then your logic must carry you to a point inifinitesimally to the left of the center.  Everything you've said to the real lefties on this forum could be said by Al From to Bob Borosage, or to you in your present incarnation.  The only thing that keeps you even marginally on the left is your inconsistency.  That inconsistency can be resolved in either direction, but right now it's very clear where your momentum is taking you.

BTW, Neil Kinnock the "obvious" consensus candidate for mayor of London?  That only makes sense if your version of consensus is "the candidate that the Blairites can impose without causing the rank and file to revolt".  But if consensus means the obvious popular choice - well, he's sitting there now, isn't he?

As for me, secure in the knowledge that my vote, combined with all the votes I could influence in my wildest dreams, are of utter strategic irrelevance, I vote for whom I please, thank you very much.  Nader?  Hell no - McReynolds.

Michael McIntyre


>>> nathan at newman.org 04/22/02 22:15 PM >>>
Ah yes-- I'm just pimping for the DLC :)   I don't like rightwing splitters
either-- but yes, they have the advantage of hunting on a wider range of
voters since they can go across the 50-yard line and keep hunting for votes.
Which is not an argument for copying the DLC but for hy the Left has to be
strategically smarter, since we have some strategic limits that they do not.

Precisely because the DLC can more easily toss the left overboard in pursuit
of centrist votes, the Left cannot afford to play stupid games of division,
since that plays into DLC-type hands.  They (and smart Kemp-like
conservatives) love to see divisions on the Left, since it allows them to go
hunting for "wedge" issues to pick votes and leave the partisans behind.

And why not trash the Lib-Labs for Thatcherism?  I see- you assume that I
don't support the labor left, but then I am a big fan of Neil Kinnocks, and
trashed Labour for trying to undermine his election, since he was the
obvious consensus left candidate for mayor London last year.

But bash away and excuse away a disaster due to stupid left sectarianism.
Millions of French voters will have the experience of voting for the Right
for the first time in their lives and it will make it all the easier in the
future.  As the new countries of the East are brought into the EU, it will
be under largely rightwing regimes writing the new Constitution of Europe.

Folks said it didn't make any difference if Gore or Bush won, yet we are
worrying about a war without end now with Bush and the complete obliteration
of the budget surplus.  Folks want to say it makes no difference in Europe,
but as the new social charters and voting systems of Europe are written, I
expect that having the Bersolonnis and Chiracs and possibly Stroibers
writing the charters will make a rather large difference.

But at least the sectarian groups got their symbolic extra percentage
points.

Nathan Newman
nathan at newman.org