[lbo-talk] Bush as Diversion

Michael Hoover hooverm at scc-fl.edu
Mon Oct 24 15:18:46 PDT 2005



>>> cbcox at ILSTU.EDU 10/21/05 5:16 PM >>>
It doesn't seem that the Fitzgerald investigation threatens ruling-class concerns; perhaps the very opposite.

Every snicker at Bush, every argument of the ABBs, every expose of corruption (Haliburton profits), every reference to the "Repugs," every sneer at Kansas, has played into the hands of a ruling class that can now throw Bush to the wolves and smugly exercise control over access to mideast oil. No invasion of Iran. No expansion of the war.

There is no left in the United States, though there are 10s of thousands of committed leftists. There will not be a left until the core of those 10s of thousands realizes deeply the necessity of breaking off from the DP, of seeing that it is the u.s. government, regardless of who sits in the White House, that is the enemy. Cheap potshots at the RP must cease. Carrol <<<<<>>>>>

re. fitzgerald investigation (and delay indictment, and frist inquiry, and i'm sure there's at least one or two others at moment), mainstream poli sci guys benjamin ginsberg and martin shefter pointed to 'revelation, investigation, and prosecution' (rip) game played by dems and reps in their book _politics by other means'_ (published about 15 years ago), one consequence of this circumstance is to reduce even further already 'weak' u.s. democracy, and while they don't say this or go here, political framework becomes even more narrow which, in process, strengthens existing class rule...

snickers at bush & cheap shots at repugs reflect weakness of left, while some of that is, no doubt, self-serving smarminess, as mark dery points out, irony is self-defense mechanism when folks are pessimistic (tempted to say when people peceive themselves to be helpless and their situations to be hopeless, but that may be bit much), gramscian 'optimism of the will' can be pretty hard to sustain...

dems are definite dialectical trap in this drama, but u.s. political system - constitutional underpinning, first-past-post elections, single-member districts, mainstream media featuring business news, fundrasing - is straitjacket...

focus on bush (or, more accurately, politics of current administration) is and is not a diversion, institutionally-speaking, potential long-term 'great transformation' has occurred/continues apace... michael hoover

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