That said, I should like to clarify where Peter Camejo stands:
>"The Truth is Always Concrete" - election thoughts, David McReynolds
<snip>
>First, "there is no difference between the two major parties" (a
>position Peter Camejo has argued with vigor, and which is shared by
>many in the Socialist Party). This position is nonsense. There are
>major differences between the two major parties and, more important,
>vast differences within them.
Actually, Peter Camejo has made a point of analyzing the precise differences between the Democratic and Republican Parties:
<blockquote>The Republican Party has historically acted as the open advocate for a platform which benefits the rule of wealth and corporate domination. They argue ideologically for policies benefiting the corporate rulers. The Republicans seek to convince the middle classes and labor to support the rule of the wealthy with the argument that "What's good for General Motors is good for the country," that what benefits corporations is also going to benefit regular people.
The Democratic Party is different. They act as a "broker" negotiating and selling influence among broad layers of the people to support the objectives of corporate rule. The Democratic Party's core group of elected officials is rooted in careerists seeking self-promotion by offering to the corporate rulers their ability to control and deliver mass support. And to the people they offer some concessions, modifications on the platform of the Republican Party. One important value of the Democratic Party to the corporate world is that it makes the Republican Party possible through the maintenance of the stability that is essential for "business as usual." It does this by preventing a genuine mass opposition from developing. Together the two parties offer one of the best frameworks possible with which to rule a people that otherwise would begin to move society towards the rule of the people (i.e. democracy).
An example of this process is our minimum-wage laws. Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage has been gradually declining for years. Every now and then the Democrats pass a small upward adjustment that allows the downward trend to continue, but gives the appearance that they are on the side of the poor. (Peter Camejo, "The Avocado Declaration," January 2004, <http://www.avocadoeducationproject.org/avocado.shtml>)</blockquote>
It is just that Camejo not only thinks that we could have done better than both the "safe states" strategy and all-out support for John Kerry in all states but also believes that "[t]hose voices who say Ralph Nader should not run, that the Greens should consider withdrawing, that the Greens should not campaign in states where the vote is close are unconsciously helping Bush's re-election by weakening the development of an opposition political movement which could shift the balance of forces" (Camejo, <http://www.avocadoeducationproject.org/avocado.shtml>). Bush may still lose the election despite the AnybodyButBush pressures that have weakened the development of an opposition political movement (which works both ballots and streets), but the very fact that the race is so tight when so many objective conditions -- from war to economy -- are against Bush demonstrates that Camejo has been quite right about the negative consequence of letting Kerry run as much to the right (of not only rank-and-file Democrats but also Bush on a number of issues) as he and his backers and handlers want, whether or not you agree with him that we could have done better than what we ended up with had we followed Camejo's advice.
With much admiration for your lifelong work for peace and justice, -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>