>>Sure, there are many strategies we can use to accomplish our goals;
>>everyday, though, we make judgments to prioritize certain strategies
>>over others. You've made an implicit judgment that electoral politics
>>is a high priority strategy; I think there are more interesting and
>>promising paths to explore. And saying "well, we can do it all" doesn't
>>solve the problem: we have finite time and resources, so we'll just end
>>up doing everything--half-assed.
>
>
> Then, if I understand your objection correctly, the issue is not one
> of principle, but one of degree.
>
> You are right that I presume that electoral politics is a higher
> priority. Isn't it obvious why? Broader political struggles (e.g.
> national elections) dispute the largest stock of concentrated
> political power, the machinery of the central government, the most
> powerful lever that exists nowadays to speed up (or slow down) the
> transformation of our society.
This is precisely the assumption I'm challenging. I disagree that electoral politics constitute the "largest stock of political power". In fact, I'd go as far as to say that one of the ideological successes of capitalism is the widespread acceptance of the notion that electoral politics is the fundamental core of politics as a social institution in our society. If we define politics formally and broadly as the institution by which important social decisions are made, it is clear that most important decisions do not involve electoral politics (e.g., Wal-mart deciding to rely on Chinese wholesalers and thereby putting U. S. manufacturing companies out of business). The notion that politics is tantamount to electoral politics is thus an effective ideological strategy for obscuring the actual means by which political power works in our capitalist society.
As I've argued before, I think the strategy for a socialist future requires some political jujitsu, not a frontal attack. Viral strategies like the open source software license are promising (if capitalist organizations try to use open source code to create software, they are "seduced" into socialist economic production). I think this type of work in the political interstices is far, far more important than anything that can done on the national political stage. I've used the "weeds in the pavement" analogy before; how about water eroding a rock face?
Miles