The 2010 mid-term elections followed the familiar pattern. A whole host of politicians campaign as outsiders who promise to bring bold initiatives and “shake up Washington.” They tell their constituencies that they are right to be angry and then hold out hope that with the right politicians, the government will live up to its promise to be “of, by and for the people.”
 Midterm results for Congress |
But then what? No recently elected Senator or Congressional representative has said, “I will introduce legislation to bring all the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan home now,” or “We should have a moratorium on all foreclosures.” Like all elections, this one will not eradicate exploitation, racism or any other form of oppression.
In fact, the rule of the corporations appears to be firmer than ever. One thing was unique about this election: It set a record for electoral spending with almost $4 billion spent. This is due in part to a new ruling by the Supreme Court that grants corporations the same right as individuals to donate to political campaigns.
Rise of the right wing?
Do 56 more Republicans in the House and six more in the Senate signal a massive “rise of the right wing”? Will the Tea Party leadership transform the Republican Party into an overtly racist, fascist organization? The answer quite frankly is no.
The great bulk of the Republican gains in the House of Representatives happened in the Midwest region, which has been hit particularly hard by decades of deindustrialization and the last three years of economic crisis. Obama swept this region in the 2008 elections, but Republicans picked up governorships in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin, and won an open Senate seat by a big margin in Indiana. Black voters in this region continued to vote Democrat—because they see the racism embedded in much of the Tea Party rhetoric—but many white voters who went with Obama in 2008, went Republican in 2010.
The Republican and Tea Party message about cutting “big government” struck a chord in this region for a reason. Conservative politicians say it is because the population is more ideologically right-wing than liberals understand. Meanwhile, many liberals and progressives attribute the Republican appeal to simple backwardness.
Both are wrong. There is a deep frustration about government spending (such as the $800 billion stimulus) because “big government” appears to do nothing to alleviate the region’s problems. These voters assumed, not unreasonably, that all the taxpayer dollars being spent are going into other people’s pockets.
Or look at the case of workers in the auto industry. The federal government took over General Motors in 2009 only to help it cut tens of thousands of jobs, reduce wages and slash benefits. It is not difficult to see how a working-class person could be moved by the right wing’s anti-government rhetoric.
The people spoke out against the Democratic Party, not for the Republican program. The Democratic Party had the presidency and a majority in Congress, but seemed to do nothing to help the people in distress.
How to defeat the Tea Party
The Tea Party movement reinforces the need to fight against racism. It distorted people’s cries for freedom and justice into a call for strengthening a system that denies people these basic rights. They combine fake economic populism with attacks on immigrants and the LGBT community while portraying social spending as a special privilege for urban Black and Latino communities.
But the Tea Party cannot be defeated by voting for the Democratic Party. Their fake populism must be defeated with a real movement of poor and working people that takes aim at Wall Street. That sort of movement would not take aim at “big government” in general, but make clear that we need a government that responds to people’s needs, not Wall Street’s bottom line.
On Nov. 2, the Washington Post wrote: “There is no blunter way for voters to send a message. For the third election in a row, Americans kicked a political party out of power. … From the moment they lift their right hands to take the oath of office, lawmakers are now on notice that their hard-won power may be short-lived.”
Indeed, their time will be short-lived because this system throws more and more families into destitution. As the economy gets worse, no money can be found to stop people from being thrown from their homes, but billions of dollars appear to bail out banks.
The system divides communities through racism, sexism and anti-gay bigotry. It sends soldiers off to kill and be killed in endless, costly wars, while claiming there is no money for desperately needed social programs.
In two years, the Democratic politicians will undoubtedly be back telling us that the Republicans lied, and it is time to restore them to office instead. But neither party can solve the inherent problems in the political process and the current economic system.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation runs candidates to raise the alternative of socialism, but we know more than voting is needed. Whether people vote Republican or Democratic, the vast majority want their hard work to be used to meet the needs of their own communities rather than line the pockets of some already-rich boss or far-off banker. But that desire cannot be satisfied by capitalism. The type of change people want and need requires a revolution.
