Do the Nov.
2 election results signal a major shift to the right and a resurgence of
conservatism among the people? Is that what the capture of 66 House seats by
the Republicans indicates? That is the
fundamental message from the corporate media and by many in the milieu of
pro-Democratic Party liberalism, such as the ACLU.
But that is
the wrong conclusion.
Of course,
there has been a political offensive by the corporate-financed Tea Party and
other middle class, right-wing organizations. They are emboldened. In fact,
they were emboldened from the beginning.
They
received nightly TV coverage by the news networks. They received millions of
dollars in secret donations from billionaires like the Koch brothers. They felt
secure enough to bring guns to “Town Hall” meetings that were held throughout
the country in August 2009 to discuss Obama’s health care package. Can you
imagine what the reaction would have been if leftists and progressives showed
up with firearms?
So, yes the
right wing is on the move. But it is not a foregone conclusion that the
election results show a significant move to the right throughout the U.S. population.
That could happen, but it is not inevitable at all.
The vote
yesterday was above all else a vote of disgust against the incumbent party. The
party in charge of the White House, the Senate and the House of
Representatives since January 2009 has been
the Democratic Party.
In 2008, the
Democratic Party won the White House and big majorities in the House and Senate.
They could have introduced and almost certainly passed any legislation they
wanted.
What has
happened for tens of millions of families since November 2008?
Unemployment
is higher, not lower, than two years ago. More people have lost health care
coverage in those two years. The number is now over 50 million of people who cannot
go to the doctor because they have no coverage. Instead of providing a single-payer
health plan that most people favored (more than 70 percent according to the New
York Times, March 2009), Obama settled on a plan that does not take effect
until 2014 and guarantees super-profits for the health insurers and pharmaceutical
giants who are rapidly raising premiums and rates.
In the last
two years more families, not fewer, have been driven from their homes through
foreclosure. Wages have been slashed, they have not gone up. Mass layoffs and
cutbacks at the state and local levels are increasing, not decreasing, under
the tenure of Obama and the Democratic majorities of the past two years.
And while
the poverty rate and foreclosure crisis for working people reached new records
this year, the Democrats allowed the biggest bankers—the very ones who
torpedoed the economy—to be handed the people’s money in the biggest bailout in
history. These bankers are now racking up record profits and awarding
themselves even bigger bonuses than they received in 2007.
Instead of
fighting and reducing the power and wealth of the bankers and corporations, the
Democrats used their position as the dominant majority in the government to
secure even greater wealth and power for the “fabulous few.”
On Nov. 2, the
people voted against the incumbent party. The Republicans and the right wing took
advantage by pretending to be “anti-government populists.” That explains their
electoral victory.
A massive
and militant people’s fight-back movement that targets the banks, corporations
and the bought and paid for politicians of both parties is what will swing the
tide against the right wing and the entire political apparatus, which serve the
needs of the capitalist criminals who lord over the vast wealth of the United
States while the people continue to suffer.
The Party
for Socialism and Liberation exists to meet that challenge. The class war waged
by the rich against the people will soon be joined by massive and determined
class-wide counter force from below. It may start with small battles, but the
capitalist system leaves no alternative.
