> Issues like the state of the US economy, global warming, proliferation
> of WMDs etc. -don't seem to bother the US Left? It's always Iraq, Iraq
> and Iraq. There are no other issues in the coming US election?
You might think there aren't by reading the posts on this list, but in fact there are a lot of other issues in play. The state of the economy is definitely one (according to quite a few polls, it concerns the majority of the electorate more than Iraq); global warming, as Doug points out, is basically nowhere to be seen right now, along with other environmental issues; and as for proliferation of WMDs, I'm not sure exactly what sort of issue you're thinking of, but if you mean the sort of think these guys in Pakistan, etc., have been up to, it seems to be mainly an issue for those who pay very close attention to the news, since it hasn't been played up in most news media.
I think there are reasons why a lot of dedicated lefties are concentrating so much on Iraq at this point. For one thing, wars are very dramatic things which naturally attract the attention of politically active folks (whether they support or oppose them). It is not difficult for a politically active person to come to a settled, clear position -- e.g., "troops out of Iraq now!" on the one hand, and "America needs to stay and help the helpless Iraqis build democracy" on the other. In a sense, the present U.S. Left is a continuation of the Vietnam War era Left (no especially new ideas or movements have arisen since then), and the orientation towards anti-war work is clearly part of this continuity. (Yes, I am well aware that many people think that "anti-globalization" is a new direction of the Left since the '60s, but it was a strong part of the movement then, too; we called globalization "multi-national corporations.")
In contrast, domestic issues are very complex and messy, and few of them lend themselves to the simple, clear-cut opposition that a war does. It's much more difficult to put your position, if you can even think one up, on a bumper sticker or a march poster. Hence, for example, the great temptation to reduce the jobless recovery issue -- the persistence of high unemployment -- to the single word "outsourcing" and blame it on India, when of course we all know that it is really about the capitalist system's eternal proclivity to muster a Reserve Army of the Unemployed.
One domestic issue that can be put in simple terms is "pro" vs "anti-gay marriage," and the Bush people might very well drum up the anti- side pretty strongly if they feel they need to, if their troops get thirsty for red blood. But at this point they seem to be concentrating on making sure every voter realizes that Kerry is a shifty, vacillating snake-oil salesman who would raise taxes to dizzying heights and ask the U.N. for approval whenever he wants to take a pee. And Kerry, of course, will continue to edify us with his profound explanations of why he voted this way on date X and that way on date Y. He might also favor us with a poem or two and a classical guitar recital, if he's in the mood.
It should be a fascinating campaign, all around. (And that's even without our good friend Ralph's high-jinks.)
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A sympathetic Scot summed it all up very neatly in the remark, 'You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk-dancing.' -- Sir Arnold Bax