On May 23, 2008, at 4:29 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
> Since your soul is an imaginary entity, or perhaps a bad metaphor,
> neither
> of us can determine its condition. It is what ever story you wish
> to tell
> about it.
Force the minuscule back into its residence, Jerry! Maintain those distinctions and subordinations!
Ok, now that I've met two deadlines, I can respond to all this at greater length. You may remember that I've taken a lot of shit, much of it on this list, for saying that Obama doesn't represent all that much of a departure from the status quo, and that his supporters are deluded for thinking otherwise. You may also remember that I thought that should he become president, the resulting disillusionment held some promise for at least some degree of radicalization among the broader population, which, as you may have noticed, isn't terribly radical right now.
I'd also say that a Dem admin would produce marginally better policies in some areas than a Rep one. Greater than zero, but hardly system transforming. Social policy and civil liberties much more so than economic policy, though for some reason, the D record on employment and income growth over the long term is better than the bond-market-friendly Rs. I'm not sure why that is, but it's an empirical fact. We're likely to get somewhat better environmental policies under a D admin, but we'll still have a very serious greenhouse gas emission problem. And if you polled the rest of the world, I think it's almost certain they'd markedly prefer Obama to McCain, though you might not find that important. Yeah, people will still be killed by American imperialism, and this difference of degree falls well short of a difference in kind, but it's not beanbag, as the guy said, whatever that means.
And also like I've said before, I like the sporting aspect of mainstream politics. I find it fun. I also find gossip and a lot of pop culture fun, and you've made it clear that you're too serious for such base temptations. Takes all kinds, dude. But I also think anyone who wants to do radical politics should learn from this stuff about how people think, how the political spectrum works, how demographics figure into thinking and political behavior, etc. Anyone, for example, who gets excited about Cynthia McKinney's presidential campaign is obviously free of the discipline of political reality that following that sort of stuff gives you.
> Elections matter a little. For instance school board elections, local
> community board elections, and the like matter a lot more as far as a
> person's effect on her community than an election to the office of
> U.S.
> Senate or the President.
And and also also like I've said before, I think that anyone who wants to change politics in the U.S. through some sort of third party or whatever has to start with just these sorts of local elections, and with organizing around specific issues (minimum wage, single- payer). The presidency, being the office of the CEO of the world bourgeoisie, is a phantasmic goal.
I've said this stuff so many times that I don't know why you're so fixated on my interest in Rove, except maybe that it offers you a pretext to pound the pulpit in that Matthew Arnold meets Leo Casey mode you love so well.
Doug