Bah! Humbug!
POST-ELECTION STATEMENT FROM COMRADE Q.
Dear Friends,
I regret to inform you that our initiative to encourage Nader voting in so-called “swing states” failed to garner much support from the American working class. Instead, in a terrible defeat for those of us struggling to build a revolutionary alternative to bourgeois politics, a significant majority of middle-to-low-income people voted for Barack Obama.
I know I was not alone in feeling pangs of nausea and disgust at the sight of hundreds of thousands of cheering people, many of them young and/or African American, celebrating Obama’s victory in Chicago’s Grant Park. Our organization has always made it a priority to recruit and organize young people and people of color. Therefore, it is especially important that we expose and denounce the moronism, naivete and mass hysteria that has attended the election of Barack Obama (before we forever lose these important constituencies to that graveyard of social movements that is the Democratic Party).
Last week, our dear friend Louis Proyect’s Full House marathon was rudely interrupted by a gaggle of unruly Obamaniacs, “cheering and yelling “Obama” over and over.”
For all practical purposes, it was just the kind of display that attends a World Series or Super Bowl victory by a New York team. This is understandable given the way that the presidential campaign is understood by the average person. Their candidate is like the home team and the primaries amount to playoffs leading up to the championship game. I almost felt like putting on my clothes and going down to the street to ask people why they were celebrating. [Proyect bravely resisted this urge to clothe himself and, instead, charged fully naked into the crowd of astonished celebrants.]
I had a similarly disturbing election night experience when a group of crazed students gathered on my street and raised a ruckus. None of them, apparently, were aware of the constraining class nature of American “democracy.” Fortunately, the activation of my sprinkler system dislodged the rowdy youths from my lawn before my flower beds were trampled.
As usual, a predictable gang of faux-radical celebrities including Howard Zinn, Bill Fletcher and Barbara Ehrenreich actually encouraged the left to support Obama on Election Day. These cowardly Mensheviks can follow Julius Martov straight to the dust bin of history as far as I’m concerned.
For now, the struggle continues.
Sales of The Red Flag, our official newspaper, are down but we are planning a major push on college campuses that will help keep our movement relevant to “Generation ePOD.” Remember, it is always darkest before the dawn. Obama will play the part of Kerensky in a post-Bush Provisional Government.
It is February, October is coming!
With Comradely Affection,
Comrade Q.
Comrade Q is the Secretary of the Revolutionary League for Worker Power. He is the editor of New Perspectives, the League’s theoretical journal and writes a fashion column for The Red Flag, its official newspaper.
Satire should be left in the hands of people who have a sense of humor, shouldn’t it?
Wait, I missed a Full House marathon? Blasphemy.
The high point of 20th century popular culture – Stephanie Tanner rocks to Motown Philly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGE_iy-A1gQ
The fashion column, eh? Muahahahaha. Not quite sure what to make of this piece, to be honest. While I agree that naive enthusiasm about Obama is myopic, I did not have a problem with the likes of Zinn supporting Obama. I think there were unfortunately very few states where voting for Nader or McKinney made sense.
I just read that the combined Nader-McKinney national popular vote total was 0.6%. Eeesh. Perhaps next time around people will put less time into 3rd party campaigns and spend it on actually organizing people.
Chris – We don’t know how many of those Nader-McKinney-Barr voters were just pulling the lever in protest and never spoke to a third party organizer. I heard a few of my friend’s Northeastern Republican parents voted for Nader, and I know those people ain’t hanging out with radicals.
Fair enough, but such an unbelievably poor showing on the part of all third-party candidates certainly points up the total irrelevance of third-party electoral politics, doesn’t it? Even when people were organizing all over the country for Nader in 2000, he still didn’t even get 5% of the popular vote total.
Third parties have had a role historically in realignment. We can still function within the big tent of the Democratic Party, but when a non-progressive or something we feel like we cant morally vote for is nominateed, we should support a 3rd party left-alternative, let the Democrats come and earn our votes.
Third parties with movements behind them (Socialists until the 1940s, Republicans, Farmer-Labour, etc.). Both the Greens and party-of-one Nader lack that.