[lbo-talk] How long can the Lesser Evil Stay in Power?

Billy O'Connor billyoc at gmail.com
Tue Mar 13 21:19:18 PDT 2012


Michael Smith <mjs at smithbowen.net> writes:


> On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:50:47 -0500
> "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
>> Barring a radical change of some sort the triumph at some point
>> in the not-too-distant future of a Palin (or worse) seems quite inevitable.
>> How does giving your thought, time, & energy to electoral politics serve to
>> prevent (and not merely postpone) The Greater Evil?
>
> This is well observed but I would go farther. Signing
> on to the lesser evil effectually encourages it to get closer
> to the greater evil, and that in turn encourages the greater
> evil to become greater still. It's a *process*, that develops
> over time, not a prix-fixe menu of more or less unpalatable
> entrees in some dismal poorly-lit restaurant, with a TV endlessly
> playing CNN at high volume.
>
> This is what even as bright a guy as Noam Chomsky seems to miss,
> somehow. Curious.

Chomsky, et al, may be thinking that it's better to temporarily back the lesser evil even though it ratchets the entire system toward the flames, in order to get a little breathing room for a left to actually form and a mass movement to coalesce. A variation on eating the seed corn, I should think.



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