<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Soooo... you think Romney et al would be BETTER???? <br><br>--- On <b>Sun, 9/2/12, David Johnson <i><dlj725@hughes.net></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: David Johnson <dlj725@hughes.net><br>Subject: [Peace-discuss] Obama and Labor !<br>To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;@mail0.frost.chambana.net<br>Date: Sunday, September 2, 2012, 5:39 PM<br><br><div id="yiv2050914480">
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<p>" Obama likewise promised organized labor the Employee Free Choice Act
(EFCA), as well as a more pro-labor policy. EFCA was then betrayed and
Obama presided over the most anti-labor environment since Ronald Reagan.</p>
<p>When he campaigned, he voiced support for single-payer health care. He
promised to renegotiate NAFTA. When he was elected, he declared single-payer
health care “off the table” and did nothing about NAFTA. When he campaigned, he
denounced Bush’s tax cuts for the rich; as president he extended them.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget Obama’s bank bailouts, Afghan “surge,” free trade deals,
domestic spying, pro-corporate “race to the top” education program,
etc. When the Wisconsin uprising happened Obama did not even visit the
state; when the Occupy movement was being repressed nationally, Obama’s silence
implied support for the anti-democratic police actions.</p>
<p>The point is that Obama and the Republicans are in general agreement about
the trajectory of this country and strive through various social policies to
create a difference that is largely fictional."</p>
<p>Anyone in Organized Labor NEEDS to read the below entire article !</p>
<div id="yiv2050914480support" align="left"><font size="-1">August 14, 2012 The Final Lesser-Evil
Election?</font></div><font size="-1">
<div class="yiv2050914480main">
<h1 class="yiv2050914480article-title">Why Voting for Democrats Doesn’t Help Working
People</h1>
<div class="yiv2050914480mainauthorstyle">by SHAMUS COOKE</div>
<div class="yiv2050914480main-text">
<p>Just when the Obama campaign couldn’t appear any less inspiring, Paul Ryan
was put forth as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Suddenly team
Obama was supplied with enough political munitions to scare every last American
over the possible destruction of Medicare, Medicaid, cuts to Social Security and
the various other evils inherent in Ryan’s proposed national
budget. Consequently, many Liberals and Leftists across the spectrum are
now focused on preaching the horrors of a Republican presidential victory and
thus the necessity of re-electing Obama.</p>
<p>But critical thinkers are immune to scare tactics. It’s no coincidence
that the Obama campaign is not running on its own merits, but the lack of merit
of its opponents. Many Obama supporters, such as leftists Bill Fletcher
Jr. and Carl Davidson, <span style="TEXT-DECORATION:underline;">argue that
Obama’s record doesn’t matter</span>, because this election is about defeating
the right wing’s “white supremacy and political misogynism.”</p>
<p>For progressive economist and former Labor Secretary under President Clinton
Robert Reich, Ryan’s budget <span style="TEXT-DECORATION:underline;">represents the nightmare of “social
Darwinism”</span>, and therefore Obama must be elected.</p>
<p>This writer will not argue with the above points about the far right, since
there obviously exists deep elements of racism and misogynism in its
camp. But voting for Obama is no way to fight these evils; quite the
contrary.</p>
<p>Voting for the Democrats does not empower working people to fight against
right-wing extremism. Instead, working people are forced to give away their
power to a political party that is in no way beholden to them, since the
Democrats have a corporate agenda divorced from the needs of the vast majority
of working people. There is no way to hold Democrats accountable once they’re in
office, especially when they’ve all but stopped making campaign promises to
working people.</p>
<p>By now it should be clear to most Americans that the Democrats and
Republicans are corporate-owned parties, and as such they are free to act as
they wish, regardless of the political rhetoric they spew.</p>
<p>For example, in 2008 Obama promised Latinos a more humane immigration policy,
and then proceeded to deport people more than Bush Jr. did. Obama likewise
promised organized labor the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as a more
pro-labor policy. EFCA was then betrayed and Obama presided over the most
anti-labor environment since Ronald Reagan.</p>
<p>When he campaigned, he voiced support for single-payer health care. He
promised to renegotiate NAFTA. When he was elected, he declared single-payer
health care “off the table” and did nothing about NAFTA. When he campaigned, he
denounced Bush’s tax cuts for the rich; as president he extended them.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget Obama’s bank bailouts, Afghan “surge,” free trade deals,
domestic spying, pro-corporate “race to the top” education program,
etc. When the Wisconsin uprising happened Obama did not even visit the
state; when the Occupy movement was being repressed nationally, Obama’s silence
implied support for the anti-democratic police actions.</p>
<p>The point is that Obama and the Republicans are in general agreement about
the trajectory of this country and strive through various social policies to
create a difference that is largely fictional.</p>
<p>But is not voting for Obama a bulwark against racism? In reality, ethnic
minorities in the U.S. suffer directly as a result of Obama’s foreign
policy. By continuing Bush’s wars in the Middle East and North Africa,
Obama is re-enforcing racism at home. Foreign wars for conquest and
occupations are fueled by racism, since they lack the inspirational purpose that
would otherwise enhance combat morale.</p>
<p>When U.S. troops return home, many bring back the racist beliefs supplied to
them as their fighting fuel, which can sometimes result in the kind of massacre
that recently occurred at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. The broader
population too is subjected to the type of unconscious racism that must result
from passive support of foreign wars across the globe, the victims of which want
nothing more than U.S. bombs and military bases out of their
countries. It’s obvious that if Obama were bombing England — and not
Afghanistan — Americans would feel more inclined to protest.</p>
<p>Obama, like Bush, is a war criminal. His drone assassinations in
Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia — and likely others — are in obvious violations of the
Geneva Convention.</p>
<p>Former President Jimmy Carter <a rel="nofollow">said
of Obama’s foreign policy</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It is disturbing that, instead of strengthening these principles [of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights], our government’s counter-terrorism
policies are now clearly violating at least 10 of the declaration’s 30
articles, including the prohibition against ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment’.”</p></blockquote>
<p>When it comes to the domestic economic policies of the right wing, the
Democrats have proved an important ally in implementing the corporate
agenda. Obama himself has been instrumental in pushing Congress to
implement “entitlement reform” — cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and other
social programs, opening the political door that Paul Ryan exploited in his
anti-entitlement budget proposal.</p>
<p>The only force capable of putting up a true fight against the far right is
the power of organized working people, who, by putting faith and resources in
the Democratic Party, are squandering their own independence and power.</p>
<p>Arguing that voting Democrat is a “lesser of two evils” is not an argument at
all, but rather a statement about the fundamental political problem that is the
two party system.</p>
<p>Liberals, Leftists, and working people in general cannot simply accept the
lesser of two evils argument as meaningful, but must actively fight to change
the absurdity that is the two party, corporate owned political system. This
change cannot happen when labor and liberal groups funnel energy back into team
Obama as they overlook the destruction his administration is causing at home and
abroad.</p>
<p>The final philosophical barrier against breaking with the Democrats is again
put forward by Bill Fletcher Jr. and Carl Davidson, who essentially argue that
the failure of the last four years was due to the progressive social movement
that failed to “put significant pressure on the Obama administration” through an
“independent progressive strategy.”</p>
<p>In short, this means that the “social movement” created by Obama’s 2008
campaign did not maintain its independence and organization adequately to hold
Obama accountable.</p>
<p>This is patently nonsense.</p>
<p>For one, the activists who campaigned for Obama did so under his
organizational umbrella. There never existed an independent pro-Obama
“movement.” More importantly, when average people are inspired enough to
become active in politics, they do so with the expectation that “their”
candidate will serve “them.” When their candidate betrays them, the natural
response is demoralization, not organized protest and sustained action. Any
average person who understands what Obama really stands for would not actively
campaign for him, and thus will be unable to “hold him accountable” once he’s in
office.</p>
<p>Anyone who believes that there exists anything near a social movement to
campaign for Obama in 2012 is deluding themselves in embarrassing fashion. Many
working people will hold their nose and vote for Obama, but this motivation does
not include phone banking, door knocking, or financial contributions. The
passion that Obama inspired by his demagoguery in 2008 has been crushed by
reality, leaving an election that will be determined by the “big donors” and
consequently, the number of TV commercials that can be purchased by the
rich.</p>
<p>And because the rank and file of labor and liberal groups will not campaign
for Obama in a significant way, he will be even less likely to reward them
politically, thus ensuring an even deeper slide into the corporate abyss if he
is elected.</p>
<p>Also, average working people are pushed into the camp of the right wing by
Obama’s anti-worker policies, since the far right offers “solutions” to the two
party system, while labor and community groups only offer more corporate
Democrats.</p>
<p>The only thing that the Democratic and Republican parties respect is power,
which they also fear. The Wisconsin and Occupy movements inspired people across
the country, while striking fear into the heart of the two party system. And
while the Democrats did their best to co-opt both movements, the potential for
independent political action still exists.</p>
<p>Scaring the two party system to pass pro-working class policies requires
mass, independent mobilizations for demands that address the real needs of
working people, such as a massive federal jobs program, Medicare For All, saving
and expanding Social Security, providing full funding for public education and
social services, all to be paid for by taxing the rich and
corporations. The Democrats cannot be scared by groups that are donating
their time and resources into electing Democrats, while tricking their
constituents into believing that Obama is a “pro-worker” candidate.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the only way out of the irrationality of the two party system is
for working people to organize independently. In dozens of other countries this
task was completed decades ago when labor unions broke with the traditional
parties and used their own organizational and financial resources to build their
own political party to represent all working people.</p>
<p>This remains the task of the day in the United States. Organized labor
is the only social force among working people at this time with the resources
capable of building a party able to compete with the two parties of big
business. If unions broke with the anti-union Democrats and raised their own
pro-worker demands, tens of millions of Americans would happily leave both the
Democrat and Republican parties. The Democrats cannot be reformed; their
“progressive caucus” has proven unwilling to inspire working people with bold
action, and serves only to give political cover to the corporate soul of the
Democratic Party. Working people are overdue for change, and won’t be
fooled again by fake promises of hope.</p>
<p><em><strong>Shamus Cooke</strong> is a social worker, trade unionist, and
writer for Workers Action (<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.workerscompass.org/">www.workerscompass.org</a>) He can be
reached at <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:shamuscooke@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=shamuscooke@gmail.com">shamuscooke@gmail.com</a></em></p></div></div></font></font></font></div></div>
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