"Moreover, if the liberal elite manage to elect John Kerry by neutralizing the main left-wing electoral alternative to the Democratic Party and allowing Kerry to run to the right of Bush, e.g., on fiscal discipline, the occupation of Iraq, etc., they can move both the Democratic and Republican Parties to the right -- just imagine what Democratic and Republican candidates we will face in 2008, 2012, and later!"
I just don't understand this statement. Fact is, I don't understand a lot on this list that has to do with politics. Must be that folks are still trying to make up their minds on who to vote for, whether third parties are viable, etc. I'll likely vote for Kerry as the lesser evil, even though I like much of Nader's economic program and his crazy willingness to nose-thumb capital. Hell, in '99 I was registered Green while running for Albuquerque city council in a non-partisan race on a pro-worker and environment-friendly platform (got 20 percent of the vote in a Republican district). About the same time, I was elected chair of the Labor Party of New Mexico (my first loyalty) and changed my registration to the inactive La Raza Unida Party as an act of solidarity with the Latino and Native majority in that state. While the Greens could attract few POC, the majority of Labor Party members were POC (and unionists). The social bases of these two third parties were different as day and night.
But we were able to coalesce with certain influential Democrats and labor leaders to nearly get an IRV constitutional amendment passed by the state legislature in '99. Needless to say, enormous energy, study, and coordination were required by a dedicated few. If IRV passed, we anticipated organizing a proportional representation movement. Lessons that were reinforced: (1 ) independent progressive third parties are valid (2) coalitions on specific issues can be formed with liberal Democrats (3) good organizing and dedicated workers are vital (4) social differences in "constituencies" must be acknowledged (5) leadership from the most exploited/oppressed makes sense. Perhaps nothing new here. But then came Bush 2000 and 9/11, the going got tougher, and nearly everybody moved to the right or turned off politics. Well, I reckon that's temporary.
But back to the basics of this thread. It must be clear to all that both major parties have been moving in tandem to the right since the end of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement, and the "accord" of big labor with capital. Neither party was ever very far to the left, but there was more liberalism in both parties from the end of World War Two until the early 70s when the boom ended, the peoples' movements faltered, and big labor became firmly embedded with corporations. The falling rate of profit and liberation movements here and abroad scared the pants off capital. It correctly perceived a significant loss of its political and economic grip. This had to be reversed by any means necessary: police action, law, propaganda, education, industrial technology, general power of the purse, national and local control of government, etc.
The right wing propaganda machine churned up in the 70s, with clarion calls for massive change. Free copies of Richard Viguerie's The New Right: We're Ready to Lead were provided by the publisher for distribution to my political sociology class. Viguerie became the pre-internet expert in direct mail advertising of the right wing agenda. Then Business Week magazine summed it all up in three comprehensive issues. "The End of the Industrial Society" (1979) reviewed socioeconomic trends and championed supply side theory. "The Reindustrialization of America" (1980) challenged labor, women, minorities, jobless, homeless, and environmentalists to get ready to receive a smaller part of the national product and cooperate in a new social contract for a more competitive economy. "America's Restructured Economy" (1981) endorsed Schumpter's creative destruction theory, called for immense capital formation, and bid the working class to cooperate in the spirit of patriotism.
I'm not saying much that you already don't know. It's just a reminder that right wing forces put in motion decades ago have to be dealt with. That's our political challenge.
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