Begin forwarded message:
> From: Marv Gandall <marvgand at gmail.com>
> Date: March 11, 2012 3:31:50 PM EDT
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Bcc: Walker <walker1jones at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Noam goes with Barry ?
>
> Chomsky's position has consistently been that "small differences can have big consequences", which is why he supported Kerry and Obama over Bush and McCain.
>
> In 2004:
>
> "Elections are essentially bought, and the democratic culture is severely eroded. Furthermore, the population is aware of it, by and large, but many feel helpless. It is also a very frightened country, particularly men, polls indicate. That has been true for a long time, and those fears are exploited by unscrupulous leaders to divert the attention of the people they are kicking in the face, not to speak of what they are doing to coming generations. Nevertheless, though differences are not very large, they do exist...In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts. Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat, but that's not the end of the story. The basic culture and institutions of a democratic society have to be constructed, in part reconstructed, and defeat of an extremely dangerous clique in the presidential race is only one very small component of that."
>
> http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20040204.htm
>
> In 2008:
>
> "The political spectrum is quite narrow, and it is of some significance that on a host of major issues, both political parties are well to the right of the general population. Nevertheless, there are differences, and in a system of huge power, small differences can have large effects. The Bush administration is far to the radical ultranationalist extreme of the spectrum, and it has caused so much damage to the interests of state-corporate power that there is likely to be a shift towards the center, less so with McCain than with Obama, who will probably be a Clinton-style centrist Democrat."
>
> The question, of course, is whether the "small differences" between Obama and a (chastened) second term Bush administration or a Romney administration have "large effects". Depends on your standpoint. If you're poor and powerless, non-white, or have liberal rather than conservative social values, you'd be inclined to agree. If you're in politics to fundamentally transform the system of power and property relations, you'd say the differences are entirely inconsequential.