sartesian wrote: > > I've stay out of this discussion, to everybody's relief (and my own), but is > it possible that anyone can really endorse voting for a national Democratic > candidate as progressive, or even the lesser evil? > > I guess so, but it takes a complete disavowal of history to do so. It takes > a deliberate denial of reality. > > Ask a simple question: Are the Democratic Party and its national > candidates calling for immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Iraq?
I couldn't conceive of myself as voting for a DP candidate (even for a Wellstone or an Obama or a Hightower), because I cannot conceive of any future for the left in the u.s. until the break with DP is final and uncompromising. But I know many people who are committed to the struggle for unconditional withdrawal from Iraq and _also_ immovably attached, _for the present_, to supporting the DP. I make my personal position known to these people. (I'm referring to the local anti-war group.) I don't think it would be useful to future relations to make a big fuss about it. There is also a handful of people on these lists (including the marxism list) who are equally committed to struggle against the Occupation but in whose judgment it is proper to work to defeat Bush this fall. I think they are wrong, but I don't think it is correct to accuse them of "a deliberate denial of reality." If Kerry wins, he will make Nader supporters and other leftists look like prophets. If Bush wins, the Democrats in Congress will continue to support his policies, and we'll still look like prophets. Carrol
