Re: [Marxism] The Left Shrugs at Impeachment
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I don't think you need a cross-class coalition - particularly with the nationalist/imperialist section of the US capitalist class, which is more angry at Trump's undermining of their authority and semi-exposing the corruption at play in their class, than they are about anything else. But it is a mistake for the left to take an indifferent or even negative approach to impeachment - like everything else, it's contested terrain and broad sections of the working class are paying attention to it, therefore the left has to take a certain positive orientation towards impeachment. Doing that with principles means challenging the nationalist narrative of the corporate Democrats and putting Trump "on trial" for everything else he's done. I think this article is pretty good on this issue https://www.reformandrevolution.org/articles/the-socialist-case-for-impeachment/ On Mon, 25 Nov 2019 at 15:37, Michael Meeropol via Marxism wrote: > > POSTING RULES & NOTES > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > * > > While I was strongly opposed to struggling for impeachment, I have to say > the hearings brought me around -- YES, the crimes of Trump agains the > environment, children, etc. should be articles of impeachment -- just like > the secret bombing of Cambodia should have been an article of Impeachment > for Nixon --- but let's try to remember one thing --- If Doug is right that > Trump needs to be defeated and defeated badly then we need a COALITION > which includes all the "national security Democrats" --- > > Remember, the coalition that ended the Indochina wars were revolting GIs > and "war criminals for peace" who had turned against Johnson's and Nixon's > policies (late but not never). > > We need that coalition to defeat Trump -- then we can try forcing Demcorats > to do the right thing --- > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/elsayeds%40tcd.ie _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The Left Shrugs at Impeachment
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * While I was strongly opposed to struggling for impeachment, I have to say the hearings brought me around -- YES, the crimes of Trump agains the environment, children, etc. should be articles of impeachment -- just like the secret bombing of Cambodia should have been an article of Impeachment for Nixon --- but let's try to remember one thing --- If Doug is right that Trump needs to be defeated and defeated badly then we need a COALITION which includes all the "national security Democrats" --- Remember, the coalition that ended the Indochina wars were revolting GIs and "war criminals for peace" who had turned against Johnson's and Nixon's policies (late but not never). We need that coalition to defeat Trump -- then we can try forcing Demcorats to do the right thing --- _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The Left Shrugs at Impeachment
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * WSJ Opinion, Nov. 24, 2019 The Left Shrugs at Impeachment by Ted Rall 'Will the Democratic Party, this time in open collusion with the intelligence apparatus, succeed in its second attempt to depose President Donald Trump in what might fairly be called a bloodless coup?" asks columnist Patrick Lawrence. What's surprising is that Mr. Lawrence is a man of the left. Like many progressives, he has as much disdain for Democratic centrists like Hillary Clinton as he has for Mr. Trump. He may be unusual in his ferocious opposition to impeachment. But few progressives are excited at the prospect. Most aren't talking about it, and apathy is common among those who are paying attention. Over the past month, the socialist magazine Jacobin hasn't run a single article about impeachment, or even about Mr. Trump. Progressive social media is focused on whether Elizabeth Warren is far enough to the left to be trustworthy. Jacobin did run a symposium in October that addressed the "coolness" toward impeachment on the Left. Samuel Moyn of Yale Law School observed: "Lots of folks are seeing impeachment as a way of removing a political opponent rather than reinventing the Democratic Party or part of crafting a policy that a lot of voters, including some of Donald Trump's voters in 2016, want, which is to wrest the state from elites and attack endless war, economic inequality, and many other baleful things that both parties have brought us over the past generation." Touched off by a cadre of self-branded "national security Democrats," the impeachment inquiry is doing nothing to bridge the gap between the party's left (represented by Ms. Warren and Bernie Sanders) and center (Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg). That's the divide that cost Democrats the White House in 2016. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow House leaders chose not to frame impeachment around issues dear to progressives, some of which might also have offered some crossover appeal to Republicans. Mr. Trump's Muslim travel ban, potential violations of the Emoluments Clause, the child-separation policy at the border -- all were left on the cutting-room floor. Instead, impeachment hearings focused on the allegation that Mr. Trump used his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to circumvent the State Department. Progressives have no sympathy for or interest in "deep state" career diplomats who have executed elites' policies of American military and economic intervention around the globe for decades while domestic infrastructure crumbled, globalization stole American jobs, underemployment became the norm, and working people struggled. Impeachment is a distraction from these issues, Doug Henwood, editor of Left Business Observer, tells me. Mr. Trump "needs to lose the election, and badly," he says. "But it seems like a lot of Dems think that everything was pretty much OK until Trump took office, and if we can just get back to the status quo ante, everything will be all right. Add to that the fact that impeachment is making liberals celebrate spies, prosecutors, and heavily medaled soldiers -- people no one on the left should have any warm feelings towards -- and you get a serious feeling of derangement." --- Mr. Rall is a political cartoonist and author of "Francis: The People's Pope," the latest in his series of graphic novel-format biographies. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
