The following is a selection of letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site in response to recent articles on the US midterm elections.
On “War, social inequality and the crisis of American democracy”
What a great summation. Thanks graciously for your insight.
SD
Arizona, US
14 November 2006
* * *In this essay, David North predicts of the then coming election, “But if the Democrats regain control the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate, it will reveal the vast chasm that exists between the sentiments of millions of people who want to vote because they think they are voting against the policies being pursued by the government of the United States and the political agenda of the ruling elite that controls both political parties.”
Well, the election was a resounding mandate against the Iraq war, and yet, as North projected, there immediately appeared a “vast chasm between the sentiments of millions...and the political agenda of the ruling elite.” In point of fact, the vast chasm‚ exploded instantly, even as the election landslide was still coming in.
The political establishment, and particularly the corporate media establishment, immediately spun the result in two false directions: (1) In a lie of commission, the media falsely claimed that the results were a sign of centrism‚ and a voter push toward bipartisan cooperation. (2) In a lie of omission, the media did not suggest or breathe a word of any suggestion that the vote against the war (which is so obviously a war of empire) expressed a revulsion of empire itself.
If nothing else can be bluntly said of the 2006 vote, it was certainly a vote against the war in Iraq. And yet, even that simple truth was denied by the ruling elite through their media megaphone monopoly. Any reasonable suggestion that the vote against imperial war also signaled a repudiation of empire (as I suggest), or (as North suggests) “against the policies being pursued by the government of the United States and the political agenda of the ruling elite” was literally off the radar scope.
But, let’s just think about what the American people—the vast majority of the working people—were voting to end. Sure, the war in Iraq. But more than that, the American people were voting to end an unjust, illegal, immoral, and non-democratically launched preemptive war of empire—and thus they were voting against empire itself. The same global corporate ruling elite empire that started this imperial oil-war in Iraq (for their own purposes), and who used non-democratic means (including lies, a faux-president, and helpful media cheerleaders) to start this oil-war of empire, also used imperial power within the US to silence debate, discussion, dissent, and even free speech about carrying out such an obviously flawed war of empire.
Two hundred and thirty years after the first American Revolution fired the shot heard round the world‚ against the corrupt political and economic empire that had our forefathers by the throat, these seemingly less important off-year elections of 2006 may well be heard as the opening shots of a second American (and even global people’s) Revolution against an even more evil and more comprehensive global corporate empire that had been metastasizing from our own shores.
Sincerely,
AM
Sanford, Maine, US
On “Important vote for SEP candidates in US elections”
Congratulations! Even though slowly, the correct stance will win workers. It’s the best answer for all the critics of the SEP. People who call themselves socialists—even with opportunism, nationalism, etc., all over their blood and tongue—may still swing around with their share in thousands of votes. But the message is clear today: Tomorrow is not meant for them.
SW
Colombo, Sri Lanka
10 November 2006
* * *I am very glad to read that SEP candidates, Mr. Bill Van Auken and company, have registered thousands of votes in the US midterm elections. I live far away in my home country India but I have spent time in the US a few years ago. I am a regular in reading several of your articles for the past five years now. I would like to say that I understand your work, and that I feel part of what you have to contend with. Please keep up with your work.
RS
Chennai, India
10 November 2006
* * *Good job in the elections. You really brought out the issues. You really do represent the working poor and the outcast. I do believe that we really need to change the profit-driven system. I thank you for standing up for the working class. I believe that Donald Rumsfeld will be prosecuted for war crimes. I hope that Dick Cheney will be the next to resign and Bush will be impeached. I think it’s time that American people wake up and take back their country and end the corporations’ hold on us. I do agree that too many people are in debt, and we need to limit the interests that credit card companies charge people, If more people knew that Bush is being financed by the Wall Street bankers, they would revolt and impeach Bush.
PM
Richland, Washington, US
13 November 2006
On “Rumsfeld’s firing: First casualty of post-election crisis in US”
A rumor is in circulation suggesting that a deal is in place between Pelosi and the administration. The rumor indicated that Pelosi agreed not to issue subpoenas from Congress to Pentagon personnel. Pelosi’s announcement regarding impeachment is—according to rumor—merely the label heading up a package of agreements between Pelosi and the administration.
Also, attention might be given to right-wing pundits’ interpretation of what this election means. Many of them are saying that the Democratic leadership has mounted a successful appeal to conservative-leaning independents. The result being that the election is an indication of a rightward movement of party leadership, not a leftward movement of the electorate.
This rhetoric, it seems to me, obscures the reality. I believe that people are concerned about basics such as healthcare, jobs, retirement, etc., and are moving to the left. I also believe that the public is getting a glimmer of the oppressive laws that have been approved by members of both parties. I would enjoy reading about which is which. If my view is correct, the electorate has most definitely moved to the left—with respect to social programs as well as the war—and the picture being drawn by right-wing pundits is misleading.
JG
9 November 2006
On “Democratic Party takes control of both houses of Congress”
Although fears existed about ballot manipulation last week, at least the White House did not resort to this tactic at this particular time. However, the results were no “victory for the Democrats,” but rather losses for the Republican Party due to their arrogant attitudes and refusal to listen to electoral concerns. However, the results owe more to the return of Reagan Democrats than movement back to the old-style “New Deal” Democratic Party as the article “Democrats Get Religion” (cited by one reader) shows.
Like John McCain, Barak Obama (who voted for the bankruptcy bill with all its adverse consequences for poor black and white working class/lower middle class families) is now courting the religious vote. It very much resembles the change in philosophy of Britain’s Labour Party which came to terms with Thatcherism in the early ’80s and launched the current Blair New Labour version which turned its back on the (admittedly flawed) social values of the postwar era. Thus, with pro-war advocates such as Hillary Clinton aiming at the White House, former Winter Soldier witness John Kerry (conspicuously absent from the reunion of those who participated in the original 1971 testimony concerning Vietnam War atrocities) now ready to send poor people to duty/mutilation/death in Iraq, and Joe Lieberman back in the Senate, any hopes for a future change will be nullified even with the return of a Democratic Party already tarnished by the right-wing tendencies of the Clinton era and ready to do “business and usual” on both the social and political levels.
Any optimism over last Tuesday’s results is severely misplaced due to the current operation of the two-party machinery, resulting in both parties being right-wing mirror reflections of each other. Change must occur, but the Democratic Party does not really represent it.
TW
12 November 2006
On “US election result reverberates in Australia”
At last, the gimmickry and deception of George W. Bush, the Wizard of Oz, is exposed. And as the sun dawns over this dark age, his shrill cries are exposed as deceptive murderous lies. Yes, he will keep on course, attempting to stampede the masses into more blood-drenched slaughter, but now his shrill wailing is impotent and inane, and everyone is on to him. This, the world’s most hated criminal, simply knows no shame. He will not stop his trickery and continue suppressing truth with lies, fear, intimidation, mysticism, smoke, and mirrors. Let none rest until he is behind bars.
CS
Taipei, Taiwan
15 November 2006