| US Perspectives 2006 - The US Political Situation |
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| By Workers International League - www.socialistappeal.org |
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| Friday, 23 June 2006 | |
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After Bush’s re-election
in November 2004, many so-called “progressives” characterized the
American people as “sheep” on the way to the slaughter, and despaired
that the working class would now be steamrolled by the Bush juggernaut.
They lamented that he would now be able to force through any and all
legislation, no matter how reactionary.
We explained that on the contrary,
Bush would have no honeymoon period whatsoever, that the country was
as divided as ever, and that he had no real mandate or political “capital”.
We pointed out that the colossal arrogance of his clique would lead
to colossal mistakes, and that well before the end of his term, he would
regret having been re-elected. We also predicted that his anti-worker
policies at home would inevitably be met with growing resistance, and
that his equally reactionary foreign policy would start to unravel.
These perspectives are already being borne out by events.
In recent years, the political
consciousness of the American working class has been shaken by one event
after another: the 2000 elections, the collapse of Enron, September
11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc. One of the most important
turning points in this process of rising consciousness was Hurricane
Katrina, the effects of which are still with us today and will be for
decades to come. Its winds and waters exposed the brutal foundations
on which the capitalist system exists. It brought to the surface the
ugly underbelly of racism and poverty that pervades American society.
Millions of Americans who had previously avoided these monstrous truths
about our “democracy” were forced to come face to face with them
in a most abrupt and uncomfortable way. The images of death, destruction,
and desperation were not coming from some “distant third-world country”
– but from right here in the U.S.
The overwhelmingly poor and
Black population of New Orleans, a city steeped in African American
history, tradition, and culture, was abandoned to its fate due to the
callous greed and racist indifference of the ruling class. In
the article The New Orleans Disaster: The Real Face of "Capitalism
of the 21st Century", we explained in detail the gross negligence
that led to the disaster, its immediate aftermath, and its effects on
the population. Since then, the diaspora of New Orleanian African
Americans and the poor in general has continued apace, with entire districts
suffering evictions, expulsions, and demolition. The former residents
are an internally displaced population, scattered to the four winds,
never to return to their homes, neighborhoods, and extended families.
New Orleans, formerly an overwhelmingly
Black and working class city is to become an overwhelmingly White tourist
destination for the wealthy. Millions of dollars in “reconstruction”
money are going to “clean up” the poorest neighborhoods in order
to turn them into casinos and resort hotels. The same companies
responsible for the “reconstruction” of Iraq are on the ground in
New Orleans: Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater Security, and others.
This mass gentrification was not the result of a “natural disaster”,
but of a racist economic and political system that puts profits before
people. However, this atomization of hundreds of thousands of
people is planting the seeds of revolutionary discontent in every city
where these refugees end up.
The criminally inept and negligent
response to Katrina and its aftermath, the state of the economy, the
ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the domestic spying scandal, and
charges of corruption, perjury and fraud at the highest levels have
seriously dented the Bush Administration’s armor. Bush’s worsening
approval rating reflects a deep-seated discontent among working people
with the way things are going; and the beginning of serious divisions
in the ruling class. It also underlines just how dramatically
and quickly people’s consciousness can change on the basis of events.
Opinion polls never tell the whole story, but they do provide a snapshot
into people’s consciousness at any given time, and their rise and
fall over time can be used to track general trends.
According to recent polls,
public confidence in the Bush Administration has been “shattered”
by pessimism over “America’s future”. A CBS poll found 66 percent
of the public believed the country was headed down the “wrong track”.
Bush’s 33 percent approval rating in April was the lowest so far in
his presidency – a far-cry from the 90 percent approval he had after
9/11. Formerly seen by the majority of Americans as a strong and
personally credible leader, the adjectives now most frequently used
to describe him include “incompetent”, “out of touch”, “liar”
and “idiot”. Just over a year ago, in February 2005, the most
frequent response was “honest”. According to independent pollster
Dick Bennett of American Research Group, “People simply aren’t buying
it anymore. People can see for themselves that things actually are not
fine.”
The downward spiral of the
Iraq War is playing a large part in this transformation of consciousness.
Nothing has been solved and patience is wearing thin at all levels.
Those actually fighting the war are increasingly demoralized and affected
by their experiences as evidenced by the sharp rise in U.S. Army suicides,
which have gone from 60 in 2003 to 87 in 2005. Bush the “War President”
and his clique of neo-conservative hawks have made a complete and utter
mess of things.
All the reasons given for going
to war have proved to be “faulty”, misleading, or outright lies.
Far from “Mission Accomplished”, the occupation of Iraq is set to
drag on for years as the insurgency continues to grow in strength and
popular support. 67 percent of respondents in a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup
poll said Bush did not have a clear plan for handling Iraq. Five years
into the interminable “war on terror”, Americans feel no safer than
they did before the tragedy of September 11th. Americans
are increasingly aware that the “war on terror” is nothing but a
war on workers at home and abroad.
In addition to the chaos, death,
and destruction of the war, there has been colossal deception, waste,
and corruption. Former CIA agents have confirmed that the Bush Administration
ignored clear evidence that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction
a full six months before the war started. It is now clear to millions
of Americans that the looting of Iraq was the real goal of the war,
a goal that was planned-for long in advance. They understand that the
non-existent 9/11 connection, the threat of WMD, and the removal of
former U.S. ally Saddam Hussein were just scare tactics and flimsy excuses
for a predatory war.
According to the International
Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq (IAMB) and the Coalition Provisional
Authority Inspector General (CPA-IG), an audit of contracts handed out
in Iraq found no evidence of work done or goods delivered on 154 of
198 contracts. Sixty cases of potential swindles are under investigation.
U.S. government investigators can account for only a third of the $1.5
billion given by the CPA to the interim government and it appears that
a substantial portion of the $8 billion given to Iraqi ministries went
to “ghost employees.” This is the gangster capitalism being
peddled as “freedom” and “liberation” by the Bush administration.
Dissent against the war and
its chief architect Donald Rumsfeld has spread to the highest levels:
no fewer than 6 prominent retired generals have called publicly for
his removal or resignation. In an incredibly frank admission that plans
for invading Iraq were in place long before September 11 or even the
Bush Administration, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni told CNN
that Rumsfeld should be held accountable for a series of blunders, starting
with “throwing away 10 years worth of planning, plans that had taken
into account what we would face in an occupation of Iraq.” Retired
Major Gen. John Riggs told National Public Radio that Rumsfeld had helped
create an atmosphere of “arrogance” among the Pentagon’s top civilian
leadership: “They only need the military advice when it satisfies
their agenda. I think that’s a mistake, and that’s why I think he
should resign.”
Several former war hawks of
both pro-war political parties have also suddenly shifted gears and
come out in opposition to the war. This change of heart has not come
about because they genuinely oppose the horrors the Pentagon is inflicting
on the people of Iraq and the young men and women sent there to kill
and be killed. It is because they understand that this adventure
has gone terribly wrong, and that the fundamental interests of U.S.
imperialism are threatened by this mess. This fiasco has weakened the
military’s preparedness for other imperialist wars and has exposed
U.S. imperialism as a colossus with feet of clay. Above all, they fear
the reaction of the working class here at home.
This is only the tip of the
iceberg of growing dissent within the Bush Administration and the Republican
party. The formerly “omnipotent” cabal that runs the government
is under serious pressure as more and more things go awry. The Abramhoff
scandal, the Valerie Plame affair, the illegal domestic spying program,
Tom DeLay’s corruption charges, and Bill Frist’s insider trading
investigation have exposed the corrupt and rotten nature of the Republican
Party. The media, while still overwhelmingly uncritical, is no longer
able to conceal the extent of the problems.
The Republican Party’s domestic
policies and second term legislative agenda are stalled, and their foreign
policy is summed up with the Iraq quagmire (though they continue
to rattle the drums of war against Iran and are clearly working to destabilize
Venezuela). Bush looks increasingly like a “dead duck” President,
with nearly three years to go in his second term . In an attempt at
damage control and to distance the President from these problems there
have been a series of shake-ups at the White House: the departure of
Cheney’s Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Press Secretary
Scott McClellan, and the demotion of Bush’s top political strategist
Karl Rove. Additional cosmetic changes are certain in the future,
and many rats will abandon the sinking ship, but this won’t change
anything fundamental. Nor does it rule out further reactionary measures
by Bush, Cheney, and co. as control continues to slip from their grasp.
So where are the Democrats
in all of this? Where are all those that voted for the war and enabled
Bush and his unelected and unaccountable gang get away with the most
vicious attacks on working people? The Republicans’ seemingly impregnable
stranglehold on both houses of Congress is now under threat – but
it must be clearly explained that this is in spite
of the Democratic Party, which has only recently and opportunistically
moved to capitalize on public anger against Bush and his policies.
These are the same people that stood meekly by for five years while
Bush dismantled what little Bill Clinton had left of the social safety
net, destroyed the economy, poisoned the environment, and plunged the
world into war. After the 2002 mid-term elections, many sounded the death knell of the Democratic Party. This sentiment was further strengthened after Kerry’s miserable campaign for president in 2004. But we explained that they would inevitably be back – not on their own merit or because they in any way represent the majority, but simply because there is no viable alternative at the present time.
In the absence of a mass party
by and for working people, political power has passed for the last few
decades between two billionaire, pro-war, anti-worker parties. This
tedious pattern will play itself out yet again in the coming years.
For lack of an alternnative, the Democrats will inevitably come back
to power at a certain stage. This will part of the ruling class’ strategy
to control the leftward shift in society and keep it within “safe”
channels – safe for the capitalist class and its system of exploitation.
In a certain sense, support
for the Democrats expresses a healthy rejection of Bush’s blatantly
anti-working class policies. It reflects the aspirations of millions
who sincerely believe that there is another way of doing things. This
sentiment lays the basis for the creation of a genuine political alternative
by and for working people – a mass party of labor. But we can have absolutely no illusions in the Democrats. We must tirelessly and patiently explain that the two corporate parties are simply two sides of the same reactionary coin. On all fundamental issues, they are virtually identical. The Democrats’ alleged “worker friendly” attitude is a total sham and a deception. They are a party of billionaires and millionaires and cannot serve two masters with diametrically opposed interests – the capitalist class and the working class. Time and again they have proved in practice that they defend the interests of the rich and powerful and in no way represent working people.
However, the Democrats are
so bankrupt and discredited in the eyes of so many Americans, that anything
can happen. As in 2000 and 2004, it is not ruled out that the
total disillusionment with the Democrats could result in yet another
narrow Republican victory in the 2006 and even the 2008 elections.
But it is all but assured that at some point, the Democrats will again
gain the presidency and a majority in government. It is equally assured
that despite some demagogic and cosmetic “reforms”, they will carry
out the same anti-worker policies as their predecessors, especially
when it comes to foreign policy.
It’s possible they may even
effect a withdrawal from Iraq - but this would only be a prelude to
future imperialist attacks and wars. This is why we must begin
now to build a genuine mass political alternative for working people.
The trade unions must break with the Democrats and put their considerable
energies and resources into building a party by and for working people.
Millions of rank and file union members have been betrayed time and
again by the Democrats. It’s time to end this relationship once
and for all.
As a class, the capitalists
are bankrupt and historically doomed – and this is reflected in their
narrow and short-sighted outlook, their ignorance, and their arrogance.
History shows that often, the “tops of the trees blow first” –
that the intense class contradictions developing in society are first
expressed by divisions in the ruling class. They are no longer able
to rule in the old way and are unsure as to how they can or should proceed.
They can feel the rumbling beneath their feet but are undecided as to
what to do about it. The divisions developing today within the
ruling parties are more than the usual smoke and mirrors they always
use to deceive working people into thinking that there are real differences
between them. These divisions reflect the early beginnings of
a revolutionary process maturing beneath the surface of American society. The only progressive class in society is the working class. Only we can lead humanity out of the dead end of misery, poverty, discrimination, ignorance, degradation, and war. With piles of flammable material laying around, the political situation in the U.S. is potentially explosive. But the lack of a genuine working class alternative means that for the short term, the pressures will continue to build up, preparing an even bigger explosion of the class struggle at some point in the not-too-distant future. Already we can see the beginnings of a great stirring of the working class. Once this giant awakens, no force on earth will be able to stop it. See also: |
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