> This afternoon I did a workshop on the state of the global justice
> movement at a Democratic Socialists of America youth conference. We
> chatted about agendas and organization, or the lack of both. Several
> points came up that deserve wider circulation:
>
> * A guy on leave from a National Guard posting in Iraq wondered what the
> left is doing to propagandize among his colleagues, whom he described as
> being seriously pissed off. Their lives have been completely disrupted,
> they're at constant risk of being blown to bits, and their after-tax pay
> is $560 a month. And the Bush admin has just cut the Veterans
> Aministration's funding.
Got that covered:
http://www.infoshop.org/military.html
http://www.infoshop.org/military/phpBB2/index.php
Please spread these URLs!
> * One of the newcomers, originally from Texas, dismissed all talk of
> anarchism or Greens, saying that has no resonance in Texas (where he's
> from) or any other of the "red states." He said the only place for
> remotely progressive politics in the U.S. heartland is the Dem party. I
> don't know if that's true, but that's what he said.
I guess that is one guy's opinion, but we anarchists are seeing plenty of growth in our numbers in the south. It kind of helps that some of us have been organizing the south for years as part of a bigger strategy.
> * Out of about 25-30 people, about 2/3 or 3/4 said they'd vote for
> whatever Dem is nominated for president (again, this was DSA-sponsored,
> but not DSA-dominated). Most of the rest said they wouldn't vote. There
> was *no* support for Ralph.
These are probably kids who are already politicized on the left side of the spectrum. Nader will do well among independents, people disaffected from the system, radicals, and disgruntled Republicans.
My prediction is that Nader will get more votes than 2000.
The liberals and radicals in the ABB crowd who have a simplisitic understanding of politics can't see at this point that Nader is a big problem for the Republicans. Nader's presence in the race will shift the
election discourse to economics and corporate power. It will be much harder for the Bush campaign to manipulate the campaign with Willie Horton stunts or a focus on culture war distractions like gay marriage. Nader's campaign lends more gravitas to the issues of jobs, outsouring, corporate power, and the overall economy. This will help the Dems hammer the Bush regime on the fact that they haven't done anything on the job front. More and more Americans have become disgruntled in past months over the economy, the Iraq war, and the lies about WMDs. Many of you have seen the articles about disgruntled conservatives.
I'm sure that Karl Rove and the folks at RNC HQ are not chalking up Nader as being an automatic win for them.
Looks like we have an interesting horse race again.
Chuck0