[lbo-talk] Dirty Hands

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Doug:
> 
> No kidding. I have no illusions about what a Dem president would do.
> My expectations are low, and despite that I wouldn't be surprised to
> be disappointed. But that's not why I'm a member of the Almost
> Anybody But Bush (AABB) club. Of course there are ways in which a Dem
> president would be significantly better - Nathan's persuaded me about
> things like the NLRB, for example. Most of our revo-plotting
> Trotobots don't think about things like that. The rich wouldn't be
> quite so coddled, and the general discursive atmosphere would
> improve. But as I've said before, it's much better to have politics
> be fought over the guys in charge not doing enough than it is to
> fight to defend the social gains of the 20th century. And like I've
> also said before, it encourages radical opposition to have a
> "liberal" of some sort in control; problems are more easily perceived
> as systemic than partisan.
> 
> Plus the Bush gang is horrifying and repulsive and I want them
humiliated.

That pretty much sums up my position.  I would like to add, however,
that this is not some sort of betrayal by the Democratic Party, but the
outcome of the class power relations in the US and globally, which at
the moment is very unfavorable for anything social democratic.  I do not
think that, say, the Greens would do much better than Dems if by some
cosmic accident they gained the presidency.  

The dissolution of the x-USSR made the world much safer for the US
capital, because it killed the specter of nationalization which was the
main obstacle to capital mobility.   The ability to shift vast amounts
of capital across national borders without fear that national
governments will nationalize foreign assets in retaliation give the US
capitalist class unmatched power and influence of national economic
policy, here and abroad. 

The dissolution of x-USSR also gravely wounded (if not killed) the main
political and ideological competitor of the US capitalist class.  The
fact that they can credibly cry and feel TINA emboldens them to take
back the concessions they gave when they feared the "specter of
communism." 

Methinks that US liberals and lefties should kiss the footsteps of
Lenin, Stalin and Khruschev in gratitude for the social gains the US got
during the Cold War, and pray for a quick return of a powerful socialist
state in Europe or Asia.  Otherwise the US capitalist class will swallow
us all raw and spit out the remains before they will eat the social
gains of the 20th century for desert.

Wojtek