-Caveat Lector- >From wsws.org WSWS : News & Analysis : North America : The Clinton Impeachment The impeachment of President Clinton Is America drifting towards civil war? By the Editorial Board 21 December 1998 In the aftermath of Saturday's vote to impeach President Bill Clinton, it has suddenly become clear that the United States is in the throes of a political crisis of historic dimensions. Even the media--which throughout the year has covered the turmoil in Washington as if it were merely some sort of uproarious joke--is beginning to recognize that what is happening is deadly serious, and may even have deadly consequences. The most striking aspect of the debate that preceded the vote to impeach was its vitriol and viciousness. To locate historical precedents for the bitterness of the political infighting one would have to go back, not simply to the last impeachment of a president in 1868, but beyond that--to the years that led up to the outbreak of civil war in 1861. In the aftermath of the vote, Rep. Richard Gephardt, the Democratic minority leader, warned that politics in the United States was approaching the level of violence. There seems to be no obvious explanation for the ferocity of the political struggle between the Democrats and Republicans. After all, this is--according to the pundits--a time of unprecedented prosperity, in which the United States, having "won" the Cold War, exercises unchallenged power as the world's sole "super-power." Why then, amidst these supposedly idyllic conditions, is the country's political system approaching a state of political collapse? To argue that this situation is merely the product of President Clinton's physical encounters with Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent denial of the relationship is patently absurd. Indeed, if it were true that sex and lies are the real cause of this crisis, one would be forced to conclude that the American system of government is simply not viable. One would hardly pay tribute to the genius of the "Founding fathers" if the functioning of the American government depended on the willingness of presidents to tell the truth about their sex lives. Obviously, the crisis must arise from causes that are of a far more profound and fundamental character. The conflict in Washington must, in the final analysis, reflect deep-rooted social conflicts within American society as a whole. There is no advanced capitalist country in which the spectrum of political debate is so narrow as in the United States. According to the political establishment, there exists neither class struggle nor even antagonistic social classes in the United States. And yet, the official denial of class conflict cannot abolish its objective existence. Precisely because there exists virtually no avenue within the political system for the open and direct expression of class contradictions, these contradictions tend at first to manifest themselves in strange and even bizarre forms. The crisis in Washington arises from an interaction of complex political, social and economic processes. Viewed within this historical context, bourgeois democracy is breaking down beneath the weight of accumulated and increasingly insoluble contradictions. The economic and technological processes associated with the globalization of the world economy have eroded the social and class relationships upon which the political stability of America has depended. The most significant aspects of this erosion have been the proletarianization of vast strata of American society, the decay in the size and economic influence of the traditional middle classes, and the immense growth of social inequality, reflected in the staggering disparities in the distribution of both wealth and income. The United States is the most unequal of the major industrialized nations, with a far greater gap between the financial elite and the rest of the population than 25 or even 50 years ago. Though these processes have been visible throughout the 20th century, they have vastly accelerated since 1975. That stratum of the population that works for a wage has steadily grown, and millions of white collar, professional and middle management workers have been affected by corporate downsizing and restructuring, with their salaries, benefits and job security dramatically reduced. The economic stability and social significance of the traditional middle classes--small businessmen, farmers, middle managers, independent professionals--has declined precipitously, reflected in record bankruptcy levels for both individuals and small businesses. These middle layers control a much smaller proportion of the economic and financial resources of American society than at any time in this century. The unprecedented degree of social inequality imparts terrific tensions to society. There is a vast chasm between the wealthy and the working masses that is hardly mediated by a middle class. The intermediate social layers which once provided a social buffer, and which are the foundation of capitalist democracy, can no longer play that role. The transformation of the old parties The two old big business parties reflect in different ways the impact of these economic changes within the ruling elites. In its effort to develop and maintain a popular base for its attack on the working class and the legacy of New Deal social liberalism, the Republican Party, once the open representative of Wall Street, contracted-out the political care of its interests to the extreme right-wing. It has become the organ of semi-fascist elements, personified by Christian fundamentalists like James Dobson and Pat Robertson. The strength of the Republican right consists in this: it represents, more consistently and more ruthlessly than any other bourgeois political faction, the fundamental requirements of the American financial elite. The radical right wing knows what it wants and is prepared to ride roughshod over public opinion in order to get it. The Republicans are not playing by the normal constitutional rules, while the Democrats wring their hands as helpless and passive on-lookers. If the Republicans express the brutality and ruthlessness of class relations in America, their bourgeois opponents in the Democratic Party, by contrast, represent a flaccid and demoralized liberalism, a perspective of reform which the ruling class has entirely discarded. The social base of the Democratic Party has been affected by the same economic and social processes that have driven the Republican Party to the right. Its supporters and activists are wealthy businessmen and professionals, a layer of the black petty bourgeoisie--largely dependent on corporate and government handouts--and the trade union bureaucracy. These layers are for reform, platonically, as long as it involves no real struggle and does not affect their stock portfolios. They are just as distant from the working class as their Republican counterparts. Clinton sought to conciliate the Republican lynch mob in the House, first with groveling apologies, then with bombing raids on Iraq. Failing that, he will now seek to conciliate the Senate Republicans. His prostration before the impeachment drive is not just a personal, but a political phenomenon. Were he to denounce the congressional Republicans and make a serious appeal to the public, the congressional Democrats would desert en masse, sealing his fate in the Senate trial. The Democratic Party is incapable of defending itself because a genuine struggle against the impeachment drive would require exposing the real social meaning of the right-wing campaign to destabilize the Clinton administration, identifying the social forces behind it, and arousing a popular movement among working people. As a bourgeois party that defends the profit system, the Democratic Party can make no such appeal. The coming political storm What has emerged in the United States over the past quarter century are two countries, which, as recent events make clear, do not really speak the same political language. There are working Americans, the vast majority, who face a continual struggle against the destruction of jobs and eroding living standards; and there is the financial elite--the capitalists per se and a layer of the upper middle class--who monopolize the wealth and control the political system. Up to now the political conflict in Washington has been confined to the political and media elite, which has either ignored, misjudged, or, as in the impeachment vote, directly defied public sentiment. However, beneath the surface of this frenzied battle, there are enormous social forces churning. Regardless of how the crisis plays itself out in the short term, these social contradictions must find expression in a deepgoing social conflict. The breakup of the financial boom of the 1990s will give an enormous impetus to the growth of social tensions and to the development of anti-capitalist political consciousness among working people. The soaring stock exchange has sustained illusions in capitalism and allowed Clinton and the Republicans to disguise the reactionary character of policies such as the abolition of welfare. But the dismantling of social benefits means that a downturn in the economy, let alone a full-scale slump or financial panic, will rapidly plunge millions into destitution. The British Financial Times warned Saturday of the fragility of the US economy, based on fantastically inflated asset values. The overvalued US stock market is all that stands between world capitalism and a devastating global recession, it declared. It goes without saying that, torn by political infighting in Washington, the American bourgeoisie is in no condition to organize a global response to the next round of financial or currency crisis. A few more serious voices in the American press have begun to express concern about the political repercussions of the present crisis. A columnist in the New York Times warned, "Should our civic institutions fail to adjudicate and purge deep national divisions in a fair, legal and completely open manner, Americans may be tempted instead to fight them out in the streets." An editorial in the Los Angeles Times was headlined "Beware the wrath." The Times warned: "A Capitol so out of step with the people it claims to represent, one so easily whipsawed by a group of small but vocal extremists, is a greater danger to the Republic than all of Bill Clinton's selfish lies. The House should heed an almost biblical warning from Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) issued earlier this year: 'The American people are watching. Beware the wrath of the American people ... Beware'." No other ruling class has been so successful in blocking any social movement of the working class as in the United States. Utilizing the two-party system to manipulate public sentiment, tacking now to the left, now to the right, as required by circumstances, American capitalism has been able to prevent the emergence of any independent political movement among masses of working people. Particularly important has been the role of the mass media, which seeks to censor and declare illegitimate any expression of political opinion outside the right-wing consensus in Washington. These methods, however, have their limits. Even the most subservient media and the most venal politicians cannot make the program of further enriching the wealthy attractive to the broad masses. The period when American politics was limited to a spectrum from conservative to ultra-conservative, with socialism banned and even liberalism a dirty word, is coming to an end. The political coup by the radical right wing has already begun to provoke a political response from below. There are three hallmarks of the emergence of a revolutionary situation. The old ruling class must no longer be able to rule in the old way. The oppressed masses must no longer be able to live in the old way. And the masses must become conscious of the necessity to take the road of political struggle, to take the fate of society into their own hands. The first two conditions already exist in America, but the third has yet to mature. That is the task to which socialists must turn their attention. See Also: Political coup gathers strength Clinton's groveling emboldens right-wing push for impeachment [12 December 1998] The US Impeachment Hearing Testimony exposes elements of a political conspiracy [24 November 1998] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1998 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved ~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From UPI (via www.vny.com) Tourists mock US impeachment zeal Monday, 21 December 1998 5:13 (GMT) (UPI Spotlight) Tourists mock US impeachment zeal By NEAL AUGENSTEIN WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) - On any given day, foreign tourists pose for pictures in front of the White House, looking for a keepsake of their visits to the home of the most powerful man in the world. But on this day, shortly after the impeachment of the current occupant of the White House, tourists had a hard time controlling their laughter - not at President Clinton and his failings but at the House of Representatives and Americans bent on pursuing the president. A visitor from Austria giggled when asked if Clinton's impeachment would change the world's opinion of the American presidency. She said: "The world's opinion is going to change about Americans, not about the president. It's his own personal thing and the whole country got into that mess - I feel very sorry for the citizens." A tourist from Israel and his family stopped to pose with a life- sized cardboard cutout of Clinton. He said the House of Representatives "made a big mistake," and called the impeachment process "a waste of money, a waste of time." He said the only person the president should be answering to is Hillary Rodham Clinton, and that President Clinton doesn't owe the American public or Congress any more apologies. He said, "I think his wife should concern him, not the nation." An American just-returned from South America said he had been peppered with questions about the impeachment pursuit: "People just asked me, 'What's going on? This is ridiculous.' I can't believe this is so incendiary." At least one German man was oblivious to the furor around Clinton's battle to stay in office. He said, "I don't know anything about that - he's just a good president." -- Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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