Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired
As if things are bad enough, the US electorate, is having to choose once again
between two big business candidates and which Wall Street party will govern US
society for next for years.
The Democratic Convention, a “virtual” affair, even has some dissident
Republicans on the platform such is the disdain for the degenerate that
currently occupies the White House. Trump’s response to the first day’s
speeches were predictable. “No one will be safe in America….”
Trump told a crowd at an airport hanger in Wisconsin on Monday. “Biden and
Harris are pro-crime and anti-cop….”, he told them, “We are anti-crime
and we are pro-cop.”. Trump said that Biden is a puppet of the “extremist
left” and that he will, “…replace American freedom with left wing
fascism.”
Biden who has been around for decades and a prominent player in the assault on
the living standards of the US working class during that time, has very little
confidence among the US electorate or sections of the ruling class and Wall
Street. But he has given them some hope with the selection of Kamala Harris as
his running mate. “I’m going to represent everyone, even those people didn’t
vote for me.,”, Biden reassured Wall Street at a virtual fundraiser with
Nancy Pelosi the same day Trump was at the airport.
The selection of Harris, who was an aggressive prosecutor as a deputy DA in
Alameda County here is a smart move for the Democrats. She was elected District
Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California in 2010, and
re-elected in 2014. Harris is presently a Junior United States Senator from
California. Harris has moved fast and served the 1% well. Before taking office
as the San Francisco District Attorney the “…felony conviction rate
was 50 percent; by 2009 it was 76 percent. Convictions of drug dealers
increased from 56 percent in 2003 to 74 percent in 2006” Wikipedia.
Prosecute is what prosecutors do and my guess is that the “drug dealers”
Harris sent to prison were not shipping in cocaine by the crateload, or were
the ones that live in Pacific Heights. More likely street dealers; they’re much
easier to spot and there’s lots of them.
Her record as a prosecutor was used against her during her campaign for the
Democratic Party nomination where she gained the hashtag #KamalaHarrisIsACop.
Biden made the point stressing, in contrast that he was a defense lawyer.
The US is engulfed in a serious political crises as the two political parties
that have governed US society for more than a century are coming to the end of
their lives. The Republican Party is dominated by religious fanatics, racists
and various white nationalist currents while the Democrats are likely to split
at some point. The party’s left wing represented by the likes of Alexandra
Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar and other “progressives” has been sidelined by
Biden’s selection of Harris and has been was given little attention at the
virtual convention.
The praise for Harris, who could well be the next president of the US if Biden
wins this time, is gushing to say the least. She is a “strong governing partner”
writes Michael Bloomberg, who was the ninth-richest person in the world in 2019
with a net worth estimated at $55.5 billion, and she has proven herself, “…ready
to be commander-in-chief.”
Peggy Noonan in her regular Saturday column in the Wall Street Journal was full
of praise. “She is an excellent performer of politics.” Writes
Noonan, “Like Bill Clinton she enjoys and has a talent for the
necessary artifice. She takes obvious pleasure in campaigning—making speeches,
waving, laughing, pressing the flesh. In committee hearings she cocks her brow
in the closeup to show skepticism. Her glamour, and her consciousness of it,
were vivid enough to be spoofed by Maya Rudolph on “Saturday Night Live.”.
She quotes quite a bit from Harris’ autobiography, “You can want the police
to stop crime in your neighborhood and also want them to stop using excessive
force,” . “You can want them to hunt down a killer on your streets and also
want them to stop using racial profiling. You can believe in . . .
accountability, especially for serious criminals, and also oppose unjust
incarceration.
“She is warm, humorous. Like most of the men around her in politics, she enjoys
being important. She isn’t embarrassed by attention.” A little bit of
sarcasm perhaps, but Noonan is desperate to see Trump head in to the sunset.
The capitalist class has two parties in the US and both are in trouble.
So it appears that like Biden, Harris will represent all Americans. But there
is no such thing as a politician that represents all Americans, especially when they
are prominent figures in one of the world’s most powerful capitalist parties.
The vast majority of class-conscious workers know this. This is why some 100
million opted out of the electoral process in 2016. Working people need a party
and politicians that openly support us as workers. The reason that they always
use the term “friends” of labor or “labor friendly” politicians
is because they have other friends, wealthier friends and their first priority
is the interests and welfare of these friends. They have obligations as
representatives of a capitalist party to defend the interest of capitalists and
capitalism.
"...People who work on Wall Street are good citizens who want their country to change...I want to generate a lot of millionaires...” Bill Clinton, Business Week, 3-23-92
The Democratic Party’s left wing has been neutralized for
now. Sanders, who could have waged a real struggle for a different direction
for US politics, spoke of how this election is "...the most important
in modern history." I think we've heard that a few times before. This
is a "fight for Democracy and decency, against greed, oligarchy and
bigotry.", he said. No socialism here, not even the "democratic"
kind. Once again, the Democratic Party, the only party in human
history that has dropped nuclear bombs on urban centers. The party complicit in
the slaughter of 3 million Vietnamese, the death of 67,000 US workers and
youth, and every other US war since is to save us from Donald Trump. The living
standards of US workers has deteriorated under Democratic and Administrations
alike. The conditions of the black working class and other marginalized sectors
of society have continued to deteriorate. Sanders is what he always has been, a
standard bearer for the Democratic Party. He should just just go away.
What the DSA will do now is hard to say, but the refusal to break from the
Democratic Party, the contracting out of its union work to former union
staffers and others who held positions in the labor hierarchy, will surely mean
increased turmoil in the period ahead. Socialism, or the mention of it has
entered the garbage can of history. Alexandria Ocasio Ortiz, undoubtedly one of
the new young stars of the party was allowed only one minute at the podium. In
her speech in which she supported Bernie Sanders for President she said:
"Good evening, bienvenidos, and thank you to everyone here today endeavoring
towards a better, more just future for our country and our world, in fidelity
and gratitude to a mass people's movement working to establish 21st century
social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher
education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States; a
movement striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice,
colonization, misogyny and homophobia, and to propose and build reimagined
systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and
xenophobia of our past; a movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of
an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the
expense of long-term stability for the many and who organized a historic
grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy; in a time when millions of people
in the United States are looking deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass
evictions, unemployment and lack of health care, in espirito del pueblo and out
of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard
Sanders for president of the United States of America."
Honorable goals indeed. Unfortunately she’s riding the wrong horse.
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