[lbo-talk] Beyond the Bipartisan Hegemony

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 11:18 PM +0800 7/12/03, Grant Lee wrote:
>  > 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
>
>One of my politics professors, a Marxist, used to tell his students 
>that he always voted for centre-RIGHT parties, because things had to 
>get worse before they would get better.

I don't think that things have to get worse before they get better. 
Rather, we need to work to build mass movements and institutions 
independent of the power elite and ruling class, whichever political 
party happens to be in power in the White House and Congress.  We 
will never be able to do so if we are 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.  If Democrats want to do business with us, let them 
come to us, ask us what we want, and tell us what they will do for 
us.  No need to be in a servile position of supplicants.
-- 
Yoshie

* Calendars of Events in Columbus: 
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, 
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>