<HTML><HTML>In a message dated 11/10/04 4:18:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, lbo-talk-request@lbo-talk.org writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Actually I think the trivialization comes when people say "We need a left party!," as if the process of getting one were self-evident. Yeah, of course the problem is the cumulative result of past decisions - but those decisions are also the result of our legal structure. So how do you organize this (very desirable) party under the constraints of our constitutional/federal system? Doug </BLOCKQUOTE> >From the way you talk, I can only conclude that you regard a left party as primarily an electoral vehicle, and one for winning presidential elections at that. The constitutional/federal system didn't prevent the Communist Party from electing a Congressman, Vito Marcantonio, right down to the McCarthy period, or Vermont from electing Bernie Sanders on a socialist ticket. The problem with both these guys was that, once elected, they failed to act independently of the Democrats. </HTML>