>
> On May 21, 2008, at 1:13 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
>
> > Or maybe I am being stupid because I don't
> > understand why you or I should pay attention to this. All you do
> > is decide
> > that the best way to respond is by insult. This seems to me to be
> > ruling
> > class politics that is meant to be both stupid and controlling
>
> The politics of the ruling class - whatever that is, exactly, which
> is my current obsession - are rather important. They rule the U.S.
> and much of the world. For that reason alone, it's rather important.
> There are some differences between candidates and parties that shape
> party and culture. This country will be a different place if Obama or
> McCain is president. Not a profound systemic difference, but a more
> than cosmetic difference. And, as I said a couple of times before, I
> find the whole game amusing, the way some people like sports.
>
> Doug
>
But why specifically the Electoral College? And the state by state guesses of Rove? What does this get you in understanding intra-ruling class politics? What is the gain in knowledge?
The point about it being like sports, I do understand. (It feels more to me like one of those MIT strategy games.) That is how Rove plays the game and that is why he is considered a genius, because he is very good at it. But even this deserves a "critique" in the way that some people can enjoy sports and critique it -- see CLR James on cricket for example.
(Critique of Rove as game player: It also seems to me that being a "genius" at this game is a higher level of ignorance, like being a "genius" at chess. And I am an ardent chess player. The difference is that the kind of game that Rove plays is especially venal and should be despised and not honored or admired.)
What I don't see is what the Electoral College, and especially its current probable break-out between candidates, tells us about anything important about the ruling class. I don't see what it tells on how to oppose the rulers, bosses, and owners. It tells us something about the basic anti-democratic structure of our Republic. But what does it tell us about say the class struggle or intra-ruling class sectoral struggle, or any other concerns of leftists?
Excuse me for asking you to justify your seeming obsession with what seems to me to be meaningless aspects of electoral politics. But I just don't understand how anyone who can ask the searching and wonderful questions of Chomsky or Kovel that you ask, and who can write "Wall Street" can pay attention to this stuff. So I still don't get it.
Jerry
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-- Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog is Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and Culture http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
His fiction, poetry, weblog is Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading and browsing http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/