FGB
Literotica Guru
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- Aug 25, 2013
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I remember Redwave and he would think they were not radical enough...
Tactics and the 2016 elections
by: John Bachtell
June 15 2015
http://cpusa.org/tactics-and-the-2016-elections/
Announcements by candidates running for president are coming fast and furious. So I guess the 2016 elections campaign has begun.
This is the first of many discussions we'll have over the next year and a half, dealing with many new developments, political turns, ideological challenges and mobilization in the movements.
We need to be in tune with the issues being wrestling with, how labor and the core forces are approaching things and discussions taking place among progressive and left forces.
I've been particularly struck by reactions to Hillary Clinton's presidential announcement, which range from hostility to indignation to excitement. Some made me scratch my head: "I want a woman president, but not this one." "I'll be sitting out the 2016 elections," "I will never support her" and so on. Some went so far as to declare little difference between Clinton and the Republican candidates. One person described, "Scott Walker vs Clinton" as "Pepsi vs Pepsi Light."
There are echoes of this in our Party. Some want to draw a line in the sand to express their moral outrage over any number of positions held by Clinton. But we have to help people see the bigger picture, the dynamics unfolding, and think tactically and strategically.
The visceral hatred expressed by the Republicans toward Clinton, especially all of the Republican male candidates ganging up on her, not one of them a supporter of women's rights, is unseemly. This may be one reason why Carly Fiorina is a candidate; it gives them cover.
I don't think nasty and mean spirited attacks go over well among voters, particularly women voters. Especially when it is possible to make history by electing the first woman president.
Election campaigns - like politics - are all about coalition-building. In that sense I agree with a recent op-ed written by Paul Krugman in the New York Times - these elections are more about parties (coalitions) and policies than personalities. This isn't meant to discount the role of personalities in inspiring and motivating, as we saw during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns with Obama.
Whether Clinton can assemble a winning coalition or her campaign is mortally wounded by controversy remains to be seen. So far it looks like the email issue is not a big deal among voters according to polls.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, will energize the primaries and debates and will influence what is talked about. We're seeing it already with overflow crowds in Iowa and New Hampshire and concerns being expressed by the Clinton campaign. His candidacy can activate many who are disillusioned or those who desire a stronger anti-Wall Street voice.
What a great thing a self-described democratic socialist is running. It means more progressive and even radical proposals will get discussed among millions including Medicare for all, Wall Street regulation, opposition to TPP and TTIP, taxing the rich and wealth redistribution, labor law reform, rising incomes for workers, expanding Social Security, developing a peaceful foreign policy and cutting the military budget and American style socialism. Sanders will talk about things Clinton can't or won't speak about.
From being on the margins, socialism is part of the discussion, although how much remains to be seen. 52% of Democratic voters have no problem with it.
Both Clinton and Sanders are setting a good tone toward each other. "I'm not running to attack Hillary, but to raise issues that face the working class of this country," said Sanders. This is important for maintaining unity during and after the primaries.
Inflicting a defeat on the GOP and ultra right is not possible without assembling a broad multi-class, multi-racial coalition of all the major social forces.
And it has to include political independents and even moderate Republicans. It means making inroads in "red" states and districts.
Only this kind of vision and breadth is capable of defeating the extreme right coalition of forces, grouped in and around the GOP.
The gulf between these coalitions is as wide as the Grand Canyon and who wins has enormous consequences. A victory would put the people's coalition led by labor in a more advantageous position to fight the ultra right and neo-liberal offensive being unleashed by the capitalist class.
It's impossible to move to more advanced stages without defeating the ultra right, removing it as an obstacle. For example, it's hard to conceive of advanced stages of struggle without a bigger, better organized, more united and more politically and class conscious working class and organized labor movement and its broad alliances, a prerequisite for social progress.
But this rests on the assumption that one views the ultra right as the main danger to democracy and social progress.
One could argue the ultra right poses one of the greatest dangers to life on Earth. Climate scientists are issuing increasingly dire warnings and calling for more urgent action to stem global warming. If Republicans win, they are sure to undo actions by the Obama administration to curb greenhouse gas emissions, disable the EPA, block global climate treaties and allow the energy transnationals to write federal policy.
I am not suggesting labor, the democratic movements, the left and communists should passively supp
More... http://cpusa.org/tactics-and-the-2016-elections/
Tactics and the 2016 elections
by: John Bachtell
June 15 2015
http://cpusa.org/tactics-and-the-2016-elections/
Announcements by candidates running for president are coming fast and furious. So I guess the 2016 elections campaign has begun.
This is the first of many discussions we'll have over the next year and a half, dealing with many new developments, political turns, ideological challenges and mobilization in the movements.
We need to be in tune with the issues being wrestling with, how labor and the core forces are approaching things and discussions taking place among progressive and left forces.
I've been particularly struck by reactions to Hillary Clinton's presidential announcement, which range from hostility to indignation to excitement. Some made me scratch my head: "I want a woman president, but not this one." "I'll be sitting out the 2016 elections," "I will never support her" and so on. Some went so far as to declare little difference between Clinton and the Republican candidates. One person described, "Scott Walker vs Clinton" as "Pepsi vs Pepsi Light."
There are echoes of this in our Party. Some want to draw a line in the sand to express their moral outrage over any number of positions held by Clinton. But we have to help people see the bigger picture, the dynamics unfolding, and think tactically and strategically.
The visceral hatred expressed by the Republicans toward Clinton, especially all of the Republican male candidates ganging up on her, not one of them a supporter of women's rights, is unseemly. This may be one reason why Carly Fiorina is a candidate; it gives them cover.
I don't think nasty and mean spirited attacks go over well among voters, particularly women voters. Especially when it is possible to make history by electing the first woman president.
Election campaigns - like politics - are all about coalition-building. In that sense I agree with a recent op-ed written by Paul Krugman in the New York Times - these elections are more about parties (coalitions) and policies than personalities. This isn't meant to discount the role of personalities in inspiring and motivating, as we saw during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns with Obama.
Whether Clinton can assemble a winning coalition or her campaign is mortally wounded by controversy remains to be seen. So far it looks like the email issue is not a big deal among voters according to polls.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, will energize the primaries and debates and will influence what is talked about. We're seeing it already with overflow crowds in Iowa and New Hampshire and concerns being expressed by the Clinton campaign. His candidacy can activate many who are disillusioned or those who desire a stronger anti-Wall Street voice.
What a great thing a self-described democratic socialist is running. It means more progressive and even radical proposals will get discussed among millions including Medicare for all, Wall Street regulation, opposition to TPP and TTIP, taxing the rich and wealth redistribution, labor law reform, rising incomes for workers, expanding Social Security, developing a peaceful foreign policy and cutting the military budget and American style socialism. Sanders will talk about things Clinton can't or won't speak about.
From being on the margins, socialism is part of the discussion, although how much remains to be seen. 52% of Democratic voters have no problem with it.
Both Clinton and Sanders are setting a good tone toward each other. "I'm not running to attack Hillary, but to raise issues that face the working class of this country," said Sanders. This is important for maintaining unity during and after the primaries.
Inflicting a defeat on the GOP and ultra right is not possible without assembling a broad multi-class, multi-racial coalition of all the major social forces.
And it has to include political independents and even moderate Republicans. It means making inroads in "red" states and districts.
Only this kind of vision and breadth is capable of defeating the extreme right coalition of forces, grouped in and around the GOP.
The gulf between these coalitions is as wide as the Grand Canyon and who wins has enormous consequences. A victory would put the people's coalition led by labor in a more advantageous position to fight the ultra right and neo-liberal offensive being unleashed by the capitalist class.
It's impossible to move to more advanced stages without defeating the ultra right, removing it as an obstacle. For example, it's hard to conceive of advanced stages of struggle without a bigger, better organized, more united and more politically and class conscious working class and organized labor movement and its broad alliances, a prerequisite for social progress.
But this rests on the assumption that one views the ultra right as the main danger to democracy and social progress.
One could argue the ultra right poses one of the greatest dangers to life on Earth. Climate scientists are issuing increasingly dire warnings and calling for more urgent action to stem global warming. If Republicans win, they are sure to undo actions by the Obama administration to curb greenhouse gas emissions, disable the EPA, block global climate treaties and allow the energy transnationals to write federal policy.
I am not suggesting labor, the democratic movements, the left and communists should passively supp
More... http://cpusa.org/tactics-and-the-2016-elections/
