> The disputes within ruling classes everywhere seem to turn on
> where to locate the tipping point, and how much reform is necessary and
> possible. Isn't that the case in relation to Iraq, social spending, the
> dollar, and other issues today?
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Forgot to add that ruling classes have also divided in accordance with the
social composition and interests of their core constituencies, especially
since the advent of the universal franchise which has given the masses a
greater, albeit limited, means of exerting regular pressure on the ruling
class short of taking up arms. This division is reflected in the existence
of liberal and conservative parties in all of the capitalist democracies -
the Republicans versus the Democrats in the US, the Conservatives versus the
Social Democrats elsewhere.
So that, in addition to the overarching bipartisan needs of the system, the Bush administration, as we've seen, has also had to pay due attention to its suburban and rural, white, socially conservative base. The Democratic leadership operates within a completely different set of constraints imposed on it by its urban supporters based in the labour, black, immigrant, feminist, environmentalist, gay, antiwar, and other generally progressive communities.
Wall Street appreciates this distinction. It's the foremost reason, IMO, why it still supports the Republicans in its majority, even though it feels equally comfortable with Bob Rubin. It's the unwashed in the DP, and their greater propensity to stand in the way of corporate objectives, which determines which of the two parties it NORMALLY prefers to see in power. For the same reason, the different social base and their corresponding ideologies represented in the two parties has also drawn the socialist left to the Democrats and the social democratic parties rather than the Republicans and Conservatives, despite the recognition that there really is not much to distinguish between all of these parties at the top. This has especially been the case since the demise of the international socialist movement, which has reduced the socialist left's options to either supporting the "lesser evil" parties or effectively abstaining from mass political activity, as we saw last year.