by Richard Mellor in California
Here we go again in the topsy-turvy world of US (capitalist) politics. As I pointed out in an earlier post, if Donald Trump has accomplished anything good at all, it is that politics, the political parties, the 2020 election and, (gasp!) socialism is being talked about everywhere. Trump is so toxic, such a wrecking ball, that for some it’s unbearable to imagine waking up on November 6th with this degenerate still in the White House.
The complete bankruptcy and rottenness of the US political system, the end of the era during which the two parties of US capitalism ruled unchallenged, is coming to an ignominious end and we can thank Trump for helping that process along; not through sheer brilliance but just by being Trump.
Most powerful party of capitalism
As I pointed out in an earlier post, the Democrats can hardly be called an “opposition” party. It is, we must not forget, the most powerful capitalist party on the planet and along with its Republican cousin, the reason some 100 million US voters refused to participate in 2016. But this former party of the slaveocracy will not go quietly.
The process of elimination for the Democrats has begun and the first two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, hardly reflective of US society, have put the social democrat Sanders and the small town mayor Pete Buttigieg in the spotlight. I think we can say that Joe Biden is finished, and Elizabeth Warren did not fare well either, although she’s not out.
Democrats have little to offer
Desperate to keep Sanders from being the party’s candidate in November, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the party’s governing body, finds itself between a rock and a hard spot. Outside of Sanders and a lesser extent Warren, the Democrats have little to offer the US electorate and, like the Republicans, is mistrusted by the vast majority of US workers and middle class. Any manoeuvre to keep Sanders out would undermine the party and the system further, even if it was legal. What’s trending now in today’s parlance is “Vote Blue No Matter Who”. TheDemocrats colour is blue, Republican red. This is how bad it is.
$300m of personal money spent on campaign so far
But within the space of a few days, I think that the Democrats have found their candidate in the billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City. Bloomberg is worth some $62 billion and is financing his own campaign. He is a former Republican, so he will have many connections among the old school Republicans who want Trump out of the way, as he’s so disruptive and bad for business, As Peggy Noonan, a more sober representative of US capitalism says, “…a New York Republican is essentially a Democrat with boundaries.” I’m not sure Giuliani fits that description but no matter. Noonan goes on to praise Bloomberg in the Wall Street Journal while Holman Jenkins goes after him a little reflecting some serious tensions among the Republicans
Democratic Party tops desperate to stop Sanders
The DNC cannot abide a Sanders nomination at the party conference in July, although some polls have indicated that he could beat Trump, and they don’t believe Warren could. It’s hardly likely that Buttigieg will do well among black folks, given his history and Klobuchar is not likely to last. I reckon they think Bloomberg is their best chance to get them in to the White House in November. Bloomberg has deep pockets. He has donated $300,000 to the DNC and has spent $90 million on House Democratic races in the last year and a half and has no doubt contributed to many officials, mayors and other Democratic Party figures’ campaigns who make up the super-delegates.
Another important pointer is that the DNC has changed the rules that make candidates eligible for the next round of debates. The party scrapped what was referred to as the grassroots donor threshold, which has required candidates in every other debate to receive donations from tens of thousands of supporters to participate, as well as have a certain percentage in the polls. This would have excluded Bloomberg because he is financing his own campaign and plans to spend $1 billion maybe more. He spent some $300 million in the first month or so of his year.
Stop-and-frisk policy in New York City
Despite spokespersons for the DNC claiming the change in rules has nothing to do with Bloomberg, the US voting public and the vast majority of Americans in general will not believe it. It will confirm the already existing view that the US has the best democracy money can buy.
Bloomberg’s previous support as Mayor of New York City for “Stop and Frisk”, that gives the police increased power to harass and target youth of colour in the streets, is a bit of an obstacle, but it is likely that will be overcome. A prominent Black Christian leader, AR Bernard, senior Pastor at the Christian Cultural Center, had Bloomberg at his church, where he apologized for his support of this racist legislation and his remark when asked about it Bloomberg responded saying, “Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.”.
I read that some major Obama donors will be holding a fundraising event for Bloomberg and addressing the gathering will be Steve Benjamin, the first black mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, who heads Higher Heights, described as a “…national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office.” Surely Oprah will join the fray at some point. Bloomberg will woo his class allies in the black community, the small black capitalists and the petit-bourgeois seeking to strengthen their position in capitalist society. Whether he can beat Trump of course is another matter.
In actuality, Bloomberg is the Democrat’s perfect candidate, except he’s Jewish of course, not the problem it once as. Being a Zionist is also OK with the Democrats. With the absence of an alternative, an independent left alternative or party of the working class based on the unions, our communities and other working class organizations, marginalized sections of US society have used the Democratic Party as the only vehicle open to them. It is also the political party of the trade union officialdom that will most likely continue to support it. “Now is not the time”…“We must get rid of Trump then we can ….” and so on.
Sanders will support Bloomberg if he wins nomination
If I am correct that Bloomberg is the man, this will intensify the division inside the party and hasten a split that should have occurred long ago. Sanders is hugely responsible for that failure along with organized labour’s leadership and the leadership of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) which has thrown the organisation behind Sanders who, if he stays true to his word, will support a Bloomberg candidacy.
I was talking to a few youthful members of DSA last week and the confidence that bordered arrogance of these mainly white, middle-class youth, was too much even for me. There was very little understanding of politics, the unions, and an overestimation of the their ability to take over the Democratic Party, a Wall Street machine, and make it work for working people.
Two great social upheavals of twentieth century
I have said in discussion with friends and co-workers over the years that the Democratic Party came to be seen and has been to some extent, the party that cares more for workers and the poor etc. But in my view, is it not simply that the Democratic Party was in power during the two greatest social upheavals of the US working class in the 20th century, the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and industrial unionism, and the Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s that followed that gave it this role?
The black revolt showed the real face of Apartheid America and its brutal racist regime to the world; something had to be done, concessions made. At the same time, the colonial revolutions were taking place as British direct rule was being evicted from its colonies in Africa and Asia. In other words, the working class internationally and at home is the force that brought political concessions and in the US, that meant opening some previously-closed doors to a section of the black population, strengthening the black middle class.
I feel the need to make one comment about preachers. All groups in society have class divisions and we know this in our gut, despite the obsession with identity politics aimed at suppressing the class question. There are no workers here, just middle class, rich and poor.
Working-class congregations in some churches
Among the black population, just like every other, there is class division. There is a chasm between the preachers and heads of religious organizations that will support Bloomberg, and receive healthy rewards for it, and the working class black churches. In the black communities there are thousands of small churches that have working-class congregations. When I ran for Oakland CA city council I spoke at a couple of them; I am not religious but I felt at home and welcomed there. In my workplace two of the leading fighters in the union were also preachers or very active in their churches. Bloomberg will not be seeking their endorsement and the best of them wouldn’t give it. Just like any organization, the unions included, there are con men and women, but not all.
I could be wrong in my views here but if objective conditions, the facts on the ground change, then it is important we change with them, Being right all the time is not a virtue.
From the US socialist blogsite Facts for Working People. The original, with all hyperlinks, can be found here.
February 19, 2020
