[lbo-talk] Why the anti-reality bubble won't break

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Jim F:
> I have been saying that about 35% of the electorate are
> diehard Bush supporters and they will remain so
> regardless of what he does or fails to do.  And
> this by no means a new phenomena. Over thirty or
> thirty-five years ago, a similar proportion of the electorate
> were diehard Nixon supporters, and you still had
> 24% of the electorate clinging to Tricky Dick right
> up to the time that he resigned.
> 
> And I don't think that the US is unique in this regard.
> I think that you will find similar proportions of the
> electorates in most western European counties
> who are similarly attracted to political figures of
> the right and extreme right.

I think it is a bit more than 35 % but that is quibbling over the margins.
The problem is not with what percent of population supports what, but with
the institutional framework of the US political system.  The US is for all
practical purposes a single party state where anything left of the center
has virtually zero presence in the key political institutions.  So it does
not really matter what people think if that thought has no correspondence in
institutional reality.  

A third? Half? Two thirds? Of the population may be moderate or liberal -
but then so what?  How are they going to translate that preference into
political influence if there are no institutions already in place willing
and able to implement that popular will.  In the same vein, a substantial
share of the Iranian population may favor European style liberalism but that
does not mean a shit since there are no political institutions that can
implement such a program.  And there are no such institutions because in
both countries the fundamentalist factions eradicated all effective
opposition.

This should not be construed as an opinion that there are no differences
between the two parties in the US.  There are.  But these differences are
confined with the rather narrow political spectrum and will not leave that
straitjacket, the popular will (if any) notwithstanding, because the ruling
oligarchy will not let that happen, by hook, crook or force if necessary.  I
don't think that Chuk0's Molotov's cocktail will make much impact on the
National Guard, let alone the US Army.   

Wojtek