“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which
particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and
repress them.” – V.I. Lenin
Elections can reveal a lot about a
country, and the fast-approaching U.S. presidential election is proving
to be no exception. Above all, the current election shows just how much
working Americans need their own political representation. This fact is
expressed and cynically taken advantage of by Barack Obama’s campaign
slogan: “Change We Can Believe In.” Even the “old guard” represented by
John McCain has had to raise the idea of change in his campaign
rhetoric.
U.S. workers have faced decades of across-the-board
declines in our standard of living: attacks on union rights,
ever-shrinking wages, longer hours, deteriorating working conditions,
the gutting of social services, indebtedness, home foreclosures and the
ever-worsening state of for-profit health care, just to name some of
the biggest problems. On top of all this, there is the perpetual “War
on Terror,” which has meant hundreds of thousands of lives and billions
upon billions of dollars down the drain. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are
in chaos and ruin, and still there is talk of opening up new fronts.
It
is therefore no wonder that millions of regular working Americans
desperately want change. However, working Americans are not fools, and
instinctively understand the complicity of the other party of the
ruling class: the Democratic Party, which since 2000 has gone hand in
hand with Bush in enabling his imperialist wars abroad and attacks on
our quality of life here at home. No wonder Congress has an even lower
approval rating than Bush.
A relatively high abstention rate is
the norm for most U.S. elections. In most elections, voter turnout is
40 percent or lower. For example, turnout in the November 2006
elections was just 29.7 percent. In other words, a mere 15 percent or
so of the country’s eligible voters decided the election. Despite all
their talk about “democracy,” it suits those who really control the
country to keep turnout low. And when there is a higher turnout, they
regularly resort to mass disenfranchisement, particularly of Blacks and
other minorities, to ensure the “right choice” is made by the voters at
the polls.
Despite his continuing lurch to the right now that he
has the nomination, there could be a larger than usual turn out due to
Obama’s message of change and the pent up frustration against the
Republicans after 8 years of Bush. Many people see in Obama what they
want to see. But his election is far from guaranteed.
Although
Barack Obama is the first Black candidate of a major political party to
make it past the primaries, a historically significant feat in the
U.S., the real substance of his politics could fit nicely into the
folds of either corporate party. And while McCain is certainly the more
openly imperialist and politically crude of the two – cracking jokes
about 9-11, bombing Iran or forgetting the number of houses he owns –
he and Obama share much in common politically.
On the question of
the war, which after the economy is the biggest concern for most
voters, the two candidates hold only slightly different views on the
best way to dominate the Middle East. McCain favors the surge and the
general course taken in Iraq by Bush, while Obama favors the
redeployment of thousands troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, with the
possibility of opening up a new front in Pakistan.
Neither
candidate is for the complete and immediate withdrawal of all U.S.
troops from the Middle East or of ending the so-called war on terror.
In fact, they are always trying to out-do each other when it comes to
who would be “tougher on Al Qaeda.” It’s the same when it comes to many
other pressing issues. From their support for private, profit-driven
health care, to their opposition to immediate and unconditional
legalization for immigrant workers and their families, their positions
are nearly identical if you look at the small print.
The most
important point to emphasize is that none of these politicians are our
politicians. That is to say, they are not politicians who represent the
interests of the working class majority, those of us who work one, two,
or even three jobs and can still barely make ends meet. Rather, the
Democrats and Republicans are the political representatives of the
bosses. As such, the laws they pass and enforce will be laws that favor
the interests of the rich. The basic problems our class faces today
will continue no matter which Big Business politician wins in November.
There
will be enormous pressure to support the Democrats from the labor
leaders and from reformist organizations involved in struggles ranging
from anti-war to immigrants rights. Workers and youth will once again
be told to settle for “pressure politics.” In other words, we will be
told to vote for Obama since he is “less evil” than McCain, and will
even be told that a McCain presidency would equal fascism.
We
must reject all attempts to get us to renounce our class independence,
to put our faith in this or that capitalist politician. We must be
bold in ideas and friendly in approach, patiently explaining to our
co-workers, friends and neighbors the need to break with the Democrats
and for a mass party of labor based on the unions. Here in the U.S. the
unions are our only mass organizations. They alone have the social base
and resources needed to mount a truly effective and nation-wide
challenge to the incumbent parties. This idea may not yet get a massive
echo. But based on their own experience, millions of workers will come
to the conclusion that this is the only way forward. Many have already
reached this conclusion and are looking for alternatives.
In the
meantime, since a mass labor party does not yet exist, we can lend our
support to campaigns such Cindy Sheehan’s Independent challenge to the
Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, and Cynthia McKinney’s
“Power to the People” presidential run. These campaigns offer a glimpse
of what would be possible if we had a mass labor party in the U.S. Even
a modest program of union rights and living wages for all, universal
health care and education, and an immediate end to the war could
quickly gather enormous support, let alone a program for the socialist
transformation of society.
