I want to pick up on the points made by Gil Skilman. We can't
neglect the well-known factors that the voting population is skewed
toward the better off, and that elections are biased by huge
monetary barriers to entry and the propaganda of TV advertisements.
However, even holding these things constant, the election
represents a real jolt to the right. The election in California
focused on what are really standard features of a fascist agenda-
-in particular, blaming foreign elements for economic problems.
This was the only issue in Pete Wilson's disgusting but stunningly
successful come-from-behind victory. The Democrats like Kathleen
Brown offered no alternative, only a watered-down version of the
same crap. Not once in any of the Democratic campaigns did the
question of defense spending cuts or military conversion even get
raised as having any relevance to the question of California's
continued economic slump, especially the loss of high-wage
manufacturing jobs.
If you read, for example, Bob Woodward's "The Agenda," it is
clear that Clinton blew it even before he took office. His
campaign promise was to reverse the decline of working class living
standards. But from day one he knowingly abandoned this priority,
embracing instead the big capital/Wall Street agenda of deficit
reduction, NAFTA, and a health care plan that was necessarily a
bureaucratic nightmare for the simple reason that he was unable to
confront the big insurance companies (even though large majorities
wanted him to take them on to create a national health care
system.) The result is that good jobs continue to disappear and
real wages decline even in recovery. The Administration is fully
aware of this problem (Reich, for example, basically lifted
material out of Larry Mishel and Jared Bernstein's "State of
Working America" for his Labor Day speeches) but has refused to do
anything serious to address it. The effect is that the majority
of working people still pay about 30 percent of their income for
government, but they see few benefits for doing so. Therefore, it
is reasonable for them to argue something like, "if I'm not getting
anything for my 30 cents and my pretax income is declining, then
I need lower taxes/less government to maintain my living standard."
Throw in the demagoguery about immigrants and you've basically got
the Republican agenda right there. The Democratic message is just,
"Yes we agree, but can't we be a bit less harsh--like can't we just
build bigger fences to keep the illegals out rather than having
teachers and school principals throwing the kids out of school."
In short, a political center defined by a classic, if still low-
level, fascist agenda.
Of course, any genuine left alternative is completely out of
the debate. But the left has to rise again if for no other reason
than that the alternatives are unbearable. Don't forget Gramci:
"Pessimism of the mind; optimism of the will."
-- Bob Pollin
