“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” - Karl Marx

By សតិវ អតុ

It is election time and here are some tid bits of ideas from earlier posts about these US elections. We are being asked to vote for two people that are miserably despised by the general electorate. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are hated by much of the electorate. And yet they are the two people being forced on us this election day.

For those of us who consider ourselves left-wing and issue oriented, this campaign is a terrible mess. Both candidates have some real problems that will plague us if or when he or she wins.

Neither candidate is really that far to the left or right. Compared to most Republicans Trump is to the left of the others. That is not to say he is left-wing, rather he is a right-wing candidate compared to his far-far-far right-wing Republicans. Clinton’s politics are almost right of center. She is best labelled a center-wing candidate—maybe even a right of center candidate.

On the domestic side Clinton will be choosing the next Supreme Court Judge if she is elected. That is a good thing as she will probably pick someone who will stand up for abortion rights and civil liberties. Also if she wins the Republican Party will not be able to consolidate their power they have massed over the last few years. They have used clever organizing tricks and gerrymandering to take over the Senate, the House and most state level governments in this country. With Trump in office the agenda of the Republicans is set to take off. Nothing will stop the most repressive political establishment party in

history (at least in my lifetime). Most important to me and others will be the end of Obama Care (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/ PPACA, or Affordable Care Act/ ACA). While it may be a disaster, as the Republicans have claimed, for some health businesses and some middle and upper class patients, it is the first time many lower middle class and poor workers have been able to afford health care. The Republicans seem to want to see those classes of people go without insurance and die. As a member of the lower middle class workers, I resent the idea that I should die for the convenience of wealthier workers and business people.

But Clinton’s benefits come at a price. She is the most hawkish and pro-US imperialist candidate for office in years. So far she has voted to go to war at every opportunity that came up when she was in the US Congress. She voted to go to war in Iraq. She supports arming the Free Syrian Army, a right-wing pro-imperialist pro-NATO guerrilla movement. She will probably increase troops in the war against ISIL (the Islamic State). She will probably increase involvement in Afghanistan. She probably make havoc for left-wing governments in Latin America. She is way more hawkish than our present leader Barack Obama.

As a member of the Peace and Social Justice Center in Wichita, Kansas and as a major activist in the anti-imperialist movement, this means we will be busy working against Clinton’s pro-war pro-military policies.

From the past:

Elections and Democracy

A question has arisen in one of my comments on the establishment of elections. Does that make a democracy?
On the question of US elections, we have two parties. The press, the Electoral College and the two ruling parties have all collaborated to insure that Republicans and Democrats are the only ones to be taken seriously. The Libertarian Party has had presidential candidates on the ballet in every state for several elections and they get no press coverage at all. On various levels (national, state, local) the press has paid the most attention to the candidate who spends the most money. The money comes from special interest groups, the majority of which are corporations. Anti-abortion groups, environmentalists, and other special interest groups make up a very small percentage of the campaign contributions politicians get to run for office. This means that the corporations get most of a congress person’s attention. The campaign contributions are protected by our constitution even though they amount to a legal form of bribery.

For the rest click here.

The Ten Big Lies of Parliamentarism

The following article is originally in Portuguese. I used Google Translator to read it. I’m posting the first paragraph in English. I am reposting a larger part of it here in Portuguese, along with a link to the original page. I like this article because it helps explains how parliamentary democracy is phony. I’m not against democracy or elections. Elections have their place. But to insist that these elections actually result in democracy is a pipe dream. Democracy implies that people are deciding who their leaders are and making major decisions about their destiny. National political elections don’t do that at all.

The choices given to the voters are those of political parties influenced by corporate interests and not the interests of the people they are supposed to represent. In the US we have two parties. While they have their differences they are extremely limited choices. The voter is a mere spectator and not really a participant in the process of choosing leadership.

For more click here.

Alice Cooper - Elected