A LESSER ‘EVIL’i or DOING WHAT’S NECESSARY?

Bill Lee

August, 21, 2020

If he’s re-elected, he will not only continue this behaviour, but it will vindicate everything he’s done. … And he’ll do more. – Jeffrey Toobin 

 

I believe we have all heard the news that it is election time in the USA. Indeed, the Dems wrapped up their love fest a little while ago and the GOP just finished paying their obsequious adulation with a stunning series of hyperbolic, mendacities and out and out fraudulences in praise of their ‘Dear Leader’, Donald J. Trump. Both parties are now ready for a full-on campaign assault on the the hearts and minds of the voters of the USA. It is an important election, as the above quote from the CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin suggests in an interview with Edward Keenan (2020, IN1 & 4) it is one that could have far reaching consequences, probably greater than the very damaging one that resulted from the surprise result in 2016. One of the interesting dynamics for me in this election is the hand wringing in a good number of Left Wing circles, in what the late columnist Allan Fotheringham used to refer to as, “the Excited States of America”, (full disclosure, not necessary for anyone who knows me at all, that my politics are quite to the left of the average voter in the USA or here in Canada) as to the utility or advisability of voting for the Democratic candidate, the old war horse, Joe Biden, or of doing “something else”. 

 (Incidentally the same arguments are taking place here in Canada where our population is acutely aware of what the effects will be depending of which party’s candidate is elected.) Oftentimes, whether from the USA or the Canadian Left, the main message is that a vote for Biden is a vote for the status quo, of corporate dominance, over any wished for politics where people and the common good come before the profit of the monied, capitalist class. I rather agree with this analysis. The neoliberal hegemony which has been put into play, with the assistance of technological innovation in the last forty years, has decimated the working class. I assume the status quo refers to the status quo ante Trump because the USA, and the world, is in a far different situation than it was prior to that election result in 2016. I also, perforce, assume that they want some other kind of action. What that something else is, is not always clear, perhaps voting for a third-party candidate, or sitting the election out? These seem to be the only actions that I can deduce from the statements.

The alternative argument is expressed very simply and clearly in the poster being waved in the photo above. Some might suggest that the sentiment posted ignores the understandable critique of the status quo gang that preceded and paved the way for Trump. That critique of course, has some validity; the democrats have recently been developing a more analytical analysis of the issues facing the USA, the dominance of capital and the existence of systemic racism for example, issues that the old guard Dems have hardly been quick to deal with in any serious way. But they have discussed a good many “Left oriented” policy ideas, the promotion of worker

rights, particularly to form and join unions for example, taking climate change seriously, adding a public option to health careii. It is important to note of course that while these policies typically qualify as socialism in the USA, they really harken back to the FDR New Deal of the 1930’s and involve no more than an attempt to bring increased regulation to, the capitalist system and a more activist government on issues, for instance, of climate change, health care and dealing with racism. So, I am not suggesting that any of these will address the root causes – neoliberal hegemony, racism and colonialism and the toxic individualism for example - that exists in the USA and many other post-industrial countries. Given the historical moment, however, the real, concrete crisis that faces the USA, the genuine existential threat to the well-being and the lives of huge numbers of people, the Democrats will be a respite from the Trumpian and GOP attacks on so many aspects of their lives. The racialized communities that have been placed in the gunsights of this odious, blatant White Supremacy, women who are continually degraded by this sexist Trump and his vile minions, Indigenous people who have seen renewed colonial attacks on their land and rights, working class men and women who have seen jobs disappear, the families who have needlessly lost loved ones to the pandemic that Trump has allowed to run free, immigrants so viciously demonized and threatened, people, (that would really be everyone) who will suffer from climate change denial that Trump and his corporate friends promote - the list is long but could be much longer - are all at more profound risk if this contemptible egomaniacal demagogue, this don of his own criminal enterprise, is able to have an opportunity at four more years of authoritarian, criminal rule.

I have a feeling that there are some on the left that believe that four more rears of the Trump regime will bring things to a “social boil” and the population, or sufficient of its members will be so angry and frustrated that they will engage in wide spread protest. I haven’t met or spoken to anyone who has actually suggested this possibility but I assume that this notion must be lurking somewhere in the background. Nowhere have I seen a genuine understanding of the actual deep danger facing marginalized people. Suggesting that Biden and the Dems are no different than Trump and the GOP is the sole rationale I’ve seen for not voting. But let us be clear, there is no revolution at hand, at least not a progressive oneiii. There is no strong working-class organization which would be key. There is no Communist power which was so important for the union movement gains as well as those of the Civil Rights movement.iv Black Live Matter is inspiring but it is a loose collection of Black and White citizens, not any kind of organized movement which is not to be critical of what is going on. It is simply to point out that the necessary organization does not exist to carry out a strategic challenge to the oligarchic capitalism system that exists. Thus, there is no, none, nada, zilch evidence that the working-class population is going to rise-up, torches, pitchforks and scythes in hand (though many of us would wish it were so) to wrest power from the capitalist oligarchs. Saul Alinsky (1970) spoke very practically when he suggested that if we wish to change the world we must start where it is, not where we wish it was, still holds.

So, what does this mean? Two things are crucial. First it is important to not give in to insistence on the Democratic Party of the USA suddenly signing on to a socialist platform before committing to vote. This is simply allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good (i.e., allowing the range of vulnerable groups mentioned above to be ripped and shredded by Trump and his GOP). The second is that for the Left in the USA it cannot be lulled into complacency (as some were after the Obama win). A Biden win in the election against the loathsome demagogue would be only a space where the Left could organize for a longer term struggle instead of

reacting to one attack after another by the Right that has had the power of the State to use in their destructions. In effect, this, in my opinion is the only game in town. It means really starting and then continuing to do the hard work of educating, organizing, reaching out to potential allies and resistance of a wide membership. It would involve confronting the union organizations, among others, and demanding that they return to the roots of the movement’s existence. I believe that is not only the just action to take, but the practical, though difficult, path that holds the most hope for the effective, long term result of establishing a just society.

 

 

References

Alinsky S.D. (1989). Rules for Radicals. New York: Vintage.

Keenan, E. (2020). “Justified Fear” Toronto Star, August 23 (pp. IN1 &4).

Ogbar, J.O.G. (2020). “The FBI’s War on Civil Rights Leaders”. The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbis-war-on-civil-rights-leaders. June 30

Williams, J. (2020). “Violence by far right is among US’s most dangerous terrorist threats, study finds” The Guardian International. June, 27. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/27/us-far-right-violence-terrorist-threat-analysis. 

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i I am not a fan of the use of the team “evil” when it comes to politics. It is to often used (usually by the Right) to suggest that its opponents are morally corrupt and essentially not worthy of civil engagement. Indeed, it can suggest that any opposition is an “enemy” and should be crushed. I use it here because I see it more and more often used by more than a few folks on the Left to refer to the Biden campaign. Thus, anyone who does not cleave to this line of thought is sometime seen as not sufficiently Left and their analyses discounted. I use it thus, to identify that position as part of the “never Biden” group who, I feel, are displaying a rather cavalier attitude as to the very real danger of the moment, as well as missing the opportunity to join with potential allies to get something from the USA election rather than nothing or worse. ii Of course, discussion is far from policy. . iii Indeed, whatever Revolutionary fervour that can be discerned to exist the USA at this time appears to emanate from the hard right., and increasingly armed, xenophobic and White Supremist gangs of the far right. (Williams, 2002) iv Unfortunately, the Civil Rights movement did not feel that it could acknowledge the importance of Communist Party assistance in its struggle as the Hoover led FBI was constantly attempting to discredit the movement. (Ogbar, 2020.