[lbo-talk] Wisconsin labor

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Tue Feb 15 06:52:45 PST 2011


Carrol: "I'm not saying they intend to be that; but that's the way it works out."

[WS:] That is a very different argument than "DP sucks, period."

Let's follow it with a logical question "why is it so?". My take on it is that political parties react to the power balance - if that balance tips in some way, they will tend follow the tilt rather than try to counterbalance it. So DP works the way it does, because the balance of power in the US shifted to the right in two significant ways. First, the elite consensus shifted to the right, especially after the fall of the USSR. Second, the general public views shifted to the right i.e. more pro-business and against social programs and government spending - even among liberals and labor.

The DP - and for that matter any left-of the center party with real power (except fringe groups) - must follow this shift to keep their position - as evidenced by the success of their triangulation or appropriating the Republican agenda and putting a liberal window dressing on it. I am pretty confident that if they failed to follow this power shift and embraced a pro-labor, pro-union, and pro-social program stance they would be wiped out at the polls. Criticizing the DP is like a dog biting a cane rather than the man who is wielding the cane.

I am also reasonably certain that in the unlikely event of the balance of power shifting to the left, the DP would become the party of the left, and GOP would follow the suit (cf. Nixon passing more progressive legislation than DP can even dream of today.)

Wojtek

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:


> My political thinking is wholly in terms of mass movements; the "left" of
> the DP is merely sucker's bait. I'm not saying they intend to be that; but
> that's the way it works out. That little left spark keeps left libs forever
> in the chains of lesser evil or of fool's hope for the party to change.
>
> Carrol
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Dissenting Wren
> Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 8:07 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Wisconsin labor
>
> Move far enough right and the opposition party can slip in to your left.
> There's always an option other than moving further to the right, although
> it
> requires substantial party redefinition (see the dance between Labour and
> LibDems in the UK).
>
> But in any case, 2010 in Wisconsin was not a year in which the Democratic
> candidates were so far to the right that they left no sane room for the
> Republicans. Tom Barrett and Russ Feingold - the top of the Democratic
> ticket -
> both come from the left wing of the Democratic Party. Republican
> wingnuttery in
> 2010 Wisconsin was a choice.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Sent: Mon, February 14, 2011 7:52:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Wisconsin labor
>
> Footnote: I know it's the RP in Wisconsin, but the DP remains The Enemy.
> The
> DP's steady move to the right left no sane room for Republican opposition.
>
> Carrol
>
>
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