Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Election Day Thoughts
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 12:48 AM, CeJ jann...@gmail.com wrote: The turning over of the House of Reps to the Republicans demonstrates clearly one thing (to me at least): That American voters, as diverse as they are, tend to prefer the incoherence of the Republicans to the incoherence of the Democrats. CB: For now. And definitely for the last thirty years. The Republicans and the rightwing have been dominant for thirty years. They have been made dominant by the majority of US voters. It's scary. Sort of low grade fever fascism. The incoherence of the Republicans is the idea that they stand for 'fiscal responsibility' while they plan to spend even more of the federal budgets on the military, intelligence and 'national security'--indeed the Republicans announced that the day of the election. The incoherence of the Democrats is that they would talk about the need to reduce military spending while going along with the budgets the national security bureaucracy asks for year after year--and then adding to them with an expanded 'mission' in Afghanistan. The incoherence of the Republicans is that they would of course consult with key allies in major foreign policy decisions but announce to their supporters in the US that no one but Americans influenced foreign policy. The incoherence of the Democrats is that they would make a big deal about consulting key allies, go ahead and act more or less unilaterally, and then give speeches about how the US has a responsibility to consult key allies and pretend that the US obeys by international laws. The incoherence of the Republicans is signing on to crap 'health care coverage' patterned after the state of Mass. (the success of a Republican governor there) while saying that America and Americans have the best health care in the world and don't need major reform. The incoherence of the Democrats is saying it's tragic that up to 80 million Americans don't have access to health insurance and even health care (because they lack insurance) and then going on to sign onto crap coverage patterned after the Republican crap plan piloted in the stae of Mass. I could go on, but I think the point is: The Republicans are much better at selling the imperialist fantasy vision of America at the center of the world, America right or wrong, America the chosen people with a godly mission to make the rest of the world more like America--not because Americans want that but the rest of the world wants it and needs it. It's hard to make much of mid-term elections when so few people actually vote in them. It's the presidential elections where you see so much of the fantasy machine cranked up to a level beyond human capacity to absorb it (the last best hope of mankind rests on one man's shoulders, ladies and gentlement I give you Prophet and Messiah, the next President of the US). The religion of America really is America (which is an ideology as circular as it is incoherent), and until something comes along to shatter that, I'm afraid the world's only superpower can't enjoy OECD levels of anything, while it drags its key OECD allies and satellites down with it. The Republican H of R won't be able to turn back the clock and revert America back to the mortgage securities and commodities speculation bubbles of 2000-2008. The question is where will it and a mostly willing Democratic Senate and WH take the US in dealing with the bad economy and the unviable fiscal situation? CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Election Day Thoughts
Election Day Thoughts by Robert Jensen Countercurrents.org (November 01 2010) November 2 is going to be a big day in our political lives. But November 3 will be far more important. On mid-term Election Day, voters will choose between candidates with different positions on health-care insurance, withdrawal from Afghanistan, and carbon-dioxide levels that drive global warming. The politicians we send to the legislatures and executive offices will make - or avoid making - important decisions. Our votes matter. But Election Day is far from the most important moment in our political lives. The radical changes necessary to produce a just and sustainable society are not on the table for politicians in the Republican or Democratic parties, which means we citizens have to commit to ongoing radical political activity after the election. I use the term radical - which to some may sound extreme or even un-American - to mark the importance of talking bluntly about the problems we face. In a political arena in which Tea Partiers claim to defend freedom and centrist Democrats are called socialists, important concepts degenerate into slogans and slurs that confuse rather than clarify. By radical, I mean a politics that goes to the root to critique the systems of power that create the injustice in the world and an agenda that offers policy proposals that can change those systems. In previous essays in this campaign series on economics, empire, and energy, http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/10/07/jensen1/ http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/10/14/jensen2/ http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/10/21/jensen3/ I argued that the conventional debates in electoral politics are diversionary because painful realties about those systems are unspeakable in the mainstream: capitalism produces obscene inequality, US attempts to dominate the globe violate our deepest moral principles, and there are no safe and accessible energy sources to maintain the affluent lifestyles of the First World. Why would politicians be unwilling to engage these ideas? Part of the answer lies in who pays the bills; campaigns and political parties are funded primarily by the wealthy, who have a stake in maintaining the system that made them wealthy. Also crucial is the ideology that pervades the dominant society; people have been subject to decades of intense propaganda that has tried to make predatory corporate capitalism and US imperial domination of the world seem natural and inevitable. As a result of these economic and political systems, twenty percent of the US population controls 85 percent of the country's wealth, and half the world's population lives in abject poverty. None of that is natural or inevitable. This inequality is the product of human choices that benefit a relatively small elite, who buy off middle- and working-class people with a small cut of the wealth. This state of affairs is the product of policies that were chosen, and can be chosen differently. Because these crucial questions are not on the agenda for the two dominant parties battling on November 2, we have to commit to a radical citizens' agenda on November 3. The first step is building and fortifying - both the local grassroots institutions that can work independently of the powerful, and the networks of empathy and caring that will be needed if we are to survive the fraying of the systems in which we live. For that work, don't look to the corporate bosses or the politicians they employ. Look to the person sitting next to you. _ Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center in Austin. He is the author of All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice (Soft Skull Press, 2009); Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007); The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002). Jensen is also co-producer of the documentary film Abe Osheroff: One Foot in the Grave, the Other Still Dancing, which chronicles the life and philosophy of the longtime radical activist. Information about the film, distributed by the Media Education Foundation, and an extended interview Jensen conducted with Osheroff are online at http://thirdcoastactivist.org/osheroff.html. Jensen can be reached at rjen...@uts.cc.utexas.edu and his articles can be found online at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html. To join an email list to receive articles by Jensen, go to http://www.thirdcoastactivist.org/jensenupdates-info.html http://www.countercurrents.org/jensen00.htm ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Election Day Thoughts
The turning over of the House of Reps to the Republicans demonstrates clearly one thing (to me at least): That American voters, as diverse as they are, tend to prefer the incoherence of the Republicans to the incoherence of the Democrats. The incoherence of the Republicans is the idea that they stand for 'fiscal responsibility' while they plan to spend even more of the federal budgets on the military, intelligence and 'national security'--indeed the Republicans announced that the day of the election. The incoherence of the Democrats is that they would talk about the need to reduce military spending while going along with the budgets the national security bureaucracy asks for year after year--and then adding to them with an expanded 'mission' in Afghanistan. The incoherence of the Republicans is that they would of course consult with key allies in major foreign policy decisions but announce to their supporters in the US that no one but Americans influenced foreign policy. The incoherence of the Democrats is that they would make a big deal about consulting key allies, go ahead and act more or less unilaterally, and then give speeches about how the US has a responsibility to consult key allies and pretend that the US obeys by international laws. The incoherence of the Republicans is signing on to crap 'health care coverage' patterned after the state of Mass. (the success of a Republican governor there) while saying that America and Americans have the best health care in the world and don't need major reform. The incoherence of the Democrats is saying it's tragic that up to 80 million Americans don't have access to health insurance and even health care (because they lack insurance) and then going on to sign onto crap coverage patterned after the Republican crap plan piloted in the stae of Mass. I could go on, but I think the point is: The Republicans are much better at selling the imperialist fantasy vision of America at the center of the world, America right or wrong, America the chosen people with a godly mission to make the rest of the world more like America--not because Americans want that but the rest of the world wants it and needs it. It's hard to make much of mid-term elections when so few people actually vote in them. It's the presidential elections where you see so much of the fantasy machine cranked up to a level beyond human capacity to absorb it (the last best hope of mankind rests on one man's shoulders, ladies and gentlement I give you Prophet and Messiah, the next President of the US). The religion of America really is America (which is an ideology as circular as it is incoherent), and until something comes along to shatter that, I'm afraid the world's only superpower can't enjoy OECD levels of anything, while it drags its key OECD allies and satellites down with it. The Republican H of R won't be able to turn back the clock and revert America back to the mortgage securities and commodities speculation bubbles of 2000-2008. The question is where will it and a mostly willing Democratic Senate and WH take the US in dealing with the bad economy and the unviable fiscal situation? CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Election Day Thoughts
Outside the orthodoxy of the two-party US, Kucinich retained his congressional seat. VICTORY: We won, 53% - 44% Dear Friends, Your support made it possible for our campaign to have a strong media presence in the closing days of the election, so that we were able to withstand the powerful anti-incumbent tide which swept across the nation. Five incumbent House Democrats lost in Ohio. The entire state ticket went down. Democrats lost control of the Ohio House. Yet, in the midst of this electoral disaster we survived because of your constant help. People forget that when I was first elected to the House in 1996, I won a seat which was held by a Republican incumbent. I was able to strengthen the district through constituent service and focusing in Washington on economic issues which related to the practical aspirations of people: Jobs, trade, health care, education, Social Security, pensions, as well as environment and peace. I have spent the past decade and more challenging the Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party on the central tenets of an economic orthodoxy which tolerates massive unemployment, disinvestment, acceleration of the wealth of America upwards and endless war. You have made it possible for me to be your voice on many issues of importance to the people of the 10th District and United States. I begin each day with grateful heart and thoughts of those who make my life and my work possible, people like you. Thank you and much love, Dennis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
