Bill Bartlett
Wed, 08 Nov 2000 18:24:34 -0800
neil wrote: >Yes, Jim D., true sure "they" give you a little red -white and blue >sticker for your so-called duty to vote. >But the "they" is a courtesy of the capitalists political state machinery >for going along with >and promoting the illusion that common folk have some say-so over the >governments actions , You misunderstand the problem Neil, the common folk *do* have some say over the government's actions. The problem is that in a capitalist economy the government itself doesn't have any real say over the important economic decisions that effect the common folk. Because these decisions are in private hands, in the hands of those who own the economy. Political democracy isn't the solution, but it isn't the main problem either. It is certainly an improvement over political dictatorship. (Ask anyone who has lived under a political dictatorship.) But it isn't economic democracy. > federal, state city in the USA. This , is this modern monopoly >capitalist epoch, is the most nausiating deception and deadly lie. > >Even as far as social reforms are concerned, who can name any in our >adult lifetimes that were won (and many were/are to be later stripped down) >via voting?. Again you miss the point. Nothing (or nothing I can think of off-hand) is won *entirely* by voting. There is much more involved. But since you ask, I'll give you an example of a huge reform that was won as a result of a vote. The end of the 25 year Indonesian occupation of east Timor. The vote by itself didn't get the Indonesians out of course, but it was the key to getting them out. Once the people of East Timor voted in the independence/autonomy ballot, the world could no longer deny what was happening. No-one could any longer deny that Indonesian occupation was illegitimate, no-one any longer believed that the bloodshed was some kind of internal war between local factions. The independence vote clearly turned the tide, it led to a significant shift in public opinion around the world, particularly in Australia. This in turn made it impossible for the Australian government to continue tolerating and supporting the Indonesian occupation and quickly led to the end of a vicious political dictatorship. So don't tell me voting never achieves anything. If the people of East Timor hadn't risked their lives to vote for independence, they would have remained a colony. If voting didn't matter, the indonesian army and militias would not have reacted so violently to the overwhelming vote for independence. Bill Bartlett Bracknell tas _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis