Molly said it all, but let's give Joe Biden his two bits:
"The economy. Climate change. Health care. Civil rights. Racial
justice.
The U.S. Supreme Court. Our democracy. They’re all on the line. Vote."
(https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1312907856161705985)
Biden is an old hack and a political weathervane, for sure. But we
progressives and socialists are creating the weather. On all of the
subjects listed here, we can make huge changes happen by pushing the
Democrats to the left. This can be achieved by an explosion of pent-up
demands nurtured by civil society during the long political quarantine
of
the Trump administration. The first step is removing Trump and
discrediting
the Republican party, which can be achieved by what's called a
"blowout" -
that's a crushing defeat that flips the Senate to Democratic control
and
increases the margin in the House. It's now a realistic possibility,
after
the utter disgrace of Trump's behavior in the debate, plus the deep
sense
of disgust generated by the White House superspreader event. If a
blowout
happens, does anyone think Progressives and Socialists will stop there,
suddenly becoming passive and complicit with a don't-rock-the-boat
administration? Hell no, after any sort of victory at the polls we're
going
to push urgently for structural changes in the way this country is run,
including statehood for DC and Puerto Rico, which would add four new
senators and solve the Republican problem for a long time to come,
thereby
opening up political space to deal rationally with economic, racial and
ecological crises.
There have been two major obstacles to the kind of changes we are
seeking:
1. a hegemonic link between conservative values and neoliberal policy;
and
2. fiscal austerity. The basic contradiction and stinking hypocrisy of
the
neocon link have been incarnated by Trump, and that coalition of
cultural
conservatives and extractivist capital will fall with him, for the time
being at least. As for fiscal austerity, it will be replaced by a
sweeping
economic stimulus based on fiat money -- an urgent measure which will
definitely pass a Democratic House and Senate, but whose final forms
could
vary tremendously, between maintenance of the status quo and
transformation. This election offers a chance to push for the latter,
along
the lines sketched out by Bernie Sanders and AOC. The creation of fresh
money for federal policy goals (and not just to support the financial
system) is the only conceivable way to literally retool the economy,
while
simultaneously reshaping the racist and frankly imperialist social
relations that are inseparable from the current extractivist toolkit.
Biden
is already proposing a Green New Deal in all but name, so let's add the
name and make it really work.
This US election is a potential turning point for the twenty-first
century
- as the last one was. The difference is, this time a lot more people
are
fully conscious of its importance, plus the swing will likely be to the
left. It is up to all of us, even outside the US, to create the new
hegemonic link between ecological/egalitarian values and industrial
transformation that alone can create any hope of a viable future.
Capitalism remains one system, and while the US may no longer be its
center
and linchpin, it can still help turn the tide of future development.
For
instance it is clear that a blowout defeat of Trump would be of great
value
to progressive political outcomes in Brazil, much of Europe and
potentially
Australia.
None of which erases the need to help prevent a coup over the next
three
months! We are still in an emergency situation. It's hard to fathom all
that's at stake.
Not so boring an election in my view... Like Molly, I am totally
curious
how people in other countries see it.
BH
On Mon, Oct 5, 2020 at 1:59 AM Molly Hankwitz <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hello!
Now that DT has Covid-19, it is as if some kind of sense has descended
upon this nation, a place recurrently gripped by sensations of
flackery,
fakery, and flack. It is all quiet on the White House lawn...Left
candidates *have*retreated to the sidelines...sure. Biden wants us in
the
Paris accord...wow!
What has become evident after that first debate and now with Covid is
how
Trump didn’t want his job — and only as he got a taste for greater
power -
look wistfully into the distance and say, “...greater power”...did he
start
to like it.
He’s gone. His believers see that through his own personal
irresponsibility he got the virus. Hes transparent. A ghost. A trouble
making ghost. Historical facts and figures are now outweighing any
tripe he
comes up with. His model is old. It cannot sustain us.
More importantly these last few days have exposed his cowardice. He
wasn’t
going to say anything. I just hope Joe Biden doesn’t come down with
Covid,
then there would be more upheaval.
Biden is a “decent guy”. We need a decent guy for a while. We can’t
take
the bombastic and we don’t have anyone else right now - ironically -
to
beat DT. Honestly, I don’t care that Biden is the last husk of
neoliberalism and the Clinton effect. He’s capable, at least of civil
discourse and collaboration. He won’t shaft women. He is planning to
rejoin
the Paris Accord and fund education so that our schools have enough
money
to reopen. He doesn’t stomp around on his teeny tiny hobby horse
screaming
threats and sanctions. If we never have to hear that kind of civil
abuse
again, perhaps we can as a nation pull ourselves together to fight
climate
change because scientists (who know more than DT) are real.
We’ve been putting up with a gross uncle for the last 4 years. A
deeply
cynical unhappy boorish sort of man who knows so much, he lacks all
curiosity which is the essence of the capacity to learn. Such a know
it all
and a no nothing.
Our election is teetering. Why isn’t Europe writing about it?
I wonder...lay it on...right-wing groups in Europe are emboldened by
DT
support for white nationalists?
Is Europe waiting to see him voted out? What does Europe think about
our
violent protests? Trumps use of Antifa...how backward he is?
Surely you must all be as eager as I for social change? The good that
has
arisen is all the young smart progressive politicians that have been
voted
in, the flipping of the Senate, Sanders and Warren working on
committees...the life breathed into the Dem party, alongside
#BlackLivesMatter and huge support for that movement. The times have
changed in do many ways socially that the economy is going to have to
change. Macroeconomics. Money is going to have to be put into new
budgets.
The whole place is a conversation that’s been trying to happen. What
is the
conversation in other countries?
Molly
On Oct 4, 2020, at 5:26 PM, Vincent Gaulin
<[email protected]>
wrote:
The election is a sorry excuse for politics, let alone democracy.
There is no Left candidate. Biden is a human placeholder for the
washed up
hollow promises of neoliberal “normalcy”, and Trump is the cartoon
version
of a rich person with equally cartoonish ideas around governance
(which
isn’t to belittle the vast and very concrete destructiveness he has/is
enacting).
There is very little room in “the election” and mainstream discourse
to
attend to the pressing issues bearing down on everyday life.
On Sun, Oct 4, 2020 at 5:16 AM Max Herman <[email protected]>
wrote:
Why is there nothing appearing here about the US election?
I sound like a jerk to myself typing this but the silence is
unexpected.
Are we all too afraid to say anything, or all just busy with other
platforms?
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