social democratic governments are now commonplace, of course. Which raises the question: what keeps the unions wedded to these parties despite their repeated disappointments with them? The traditional left answer is that the workers lack sufficient consciousness of the nature of their party leadership and program, which I don't think is altogether true. I think they know quite well what they are voting for when they vote for these parties.
Unfortunately, knowing that Kerry is inimical to the interests of working people does not stop the bureaucracy from backing the DP. This is not a question of intellect, but will. Stern's words are remarkable, but I doubt if he would ever put his clout behind a labor party, let alone backing Nader.
In any case, if a Kerry administration is forced to preside over deep cuts to Social Security and other social programs, it's difficult not to see the same struggle emerging within the DP, with the left opposition coming from the SEIU-ACSFME-Dean-Kucinich axis which formed during the primaries. I don't think the US labour movement is THAT exceptional, is it?)
Of course, in 2008, Kucinich will run as a progressive candidate in the DP primaries and waste everybody's time. That is, of course, except for the political whores like Jeff Cohen who will work for him and others like him. There's always good money to be made in telling people TINA.
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