[lbo-talk] Beyond the Bipartisan Hegemony [Fwd: Re: fighting ideology]

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 4:48 PM -0400 7/11/03, Doug Henwood wrote:
>>The Democrats are in no way the lesser evil. But liberal 
>>ideologists - Nathan, you here? - can make some pseudo-credible 
>>arguments to the contrary. The moment you accept that there's an 
>>element of truth to lesser evilism, you're lost. In fact, it's 
>>precisely at those moments of appeal that the power of ideology is 
>>at its most sinister: that's precisely the lure that seduces even 
>>people who should know better into the vortex of compromise and 
>>betrayal.
>
>It was ok to say that when there was a Dem in the White House. Now 
>that there's a bloodthirsty cryptofascist biblethumping moron there, 
>truth has been revised.

There will always be some differences between Democrats and 
Republicans, and Democrats and Republicans alternate in the White 
House and Congress.  I don't think that we can make any progress in 
building left-wing mass movements and institutions independent of the 
power elite and ruling class if we have to fight to elect Democrats 
when Republicans are in power and can fight against Democrats _only_ 
when they are in power _and_ there is no right-wing attempt to attack 
them viciously (remember, there will always be vicious 
right-wingers...).  That would basically mean working for your 
political enemy and competitor (at least) more than half the time.
-- 
Yoshie

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