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"Joaquin Bustelo" wrote Kathleen [kmcook] writes about the Democrats: "The party needs to get back to honesty and open government." Hi. Let me suggest you're on the wrong mailing list. There isn't anyone hereabouts who think the Democrats were EVER about "honesty" and "open government" and much less that somehow they were democratic until May 2008. The Democrats are the oldest continuous capitalist party in the world, and as such are merely continuing to be true to the tiny clique of bankers and big businessmen (and, yes, it had been almost exclusively "men") who have been he true masters of this country since it was founded. You will probably be more comfortable posting in forums like the Huffington post or MSNBC or with that sort of outlook. Continuing to post here most likely will simply get you pilloried. Joaquin ------------------------------------------ I don't know what the demographics Les is generating will show about the participation of women on this list, if that's even an item in the compilation, but this is certainly not going to help anyone find their "comfort level" or increase their understanding. No one has mentioned this for some time, but it needs to be taken up repeatedly. I know that a lot of those contributing and lurking here didn't get involved forty years ago in a deep reading of the Marxist classics, or in 20th century Trotskyist sectarian politics, and if this is predominantly an old boy network rehashing past sectarian history and nattering on about arcane, often extraneous trivia instead of continually offering a leg up to the newly aware, then we'll wait patiently and regretfully for its demise. But it's a shame, because flaming and pillorying contests will, despite the moderators' occasional reminders, surely drive younger, otherwise responsive people of any gender away who could find value here and thereby be part of the solution, especially if they weren't overwhelmed by static that has no meaning for them. There's much otherwise very helpful information to be gained here, and very few other places, for anyone seeking to join in the effort for a saner, more equitable world, and we may or may not be ever mindful that the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of the living Marxist project address that, are profound beyond measure and will outlast pettifogging, wherever it occurs. The mission statement on Lou and Les's prefatory page declares that this list has a very good signal to noise ratio, and while that may be comparatively true it's still drearily high. That's perhaps an inescapable aspect of largely anonymous email exchanges, where people do not meet face to face and one-up-person-ship is often present, but this doesn't help any of us, man or woman, attend to the main objectives that discussion here is purportedly about. Ralph ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
