Joel Blau wrote: 4) is really the outside/inside, inside/outside strategy in which elements outside of the Democratic party amass enough power to draw people to them, and elements inside gain leverage as their threat of exiting become more credible. I agree with Julio: either way, this strategy produces a gravitational pull to the left. ------------------------------------- Along these lines, I posted in part the following to the LBO list this am, where there has been a similar discussion::
[...] Cindy Sheehan is a good example. She's just the kind of person the left would want to support and collaborate with - not only in the antiwar movement, but also insofar as she carries this struggle into the political arena. I think the same is true in relation to all the other anonymous Cindy Sheehans in the other social movements. Last I heard she was interested in contesting the Democratic primary against the sitting DP Senator from California. It would be a useful thought exercise for those on the list to ask themselves whether they would regard this as a good thing or as a bad thing. Should the US left support her candidacy or should it abstain and even repudiate her decision? Such a challenge, after all, would unfold within the bosom of the Democratic party, and if Ms. Sheehan were to win, she would be running as a Democrat and presumably reinforcing "illusions" in that party. The logic of the position I've expressed above obviously leads in the direction of supporting her candidacy. For those who disagree with the logic, it would be inconsistent to support her without engaging in some ideological gymnastics to justify their instincts. If it helps, I would add that those in the gunsights of US imperialism like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro have given her a rapturous reception wherever she has appeared, and I wouldn't bet that they would be discouraging her candidacy and the contribution it could make both to the building of a viable left in the DP and the antiwar movement. I don't believe they see the two as being in contradiction to each other, as some on this and related lists do. Having said that, I wouldn't get terribly upset if Cindy Sheehan decided instead, in her frustration with the DP tops, to to run as a Green alongside someone like Peter Camejo. I'd be interested in her decision and her candidacy as a possible a straw in the wind that there is, in fact, a significant constituency within the DP which is prepared to break with it. We shouldn't be dogmatic, and we should recognize that whichever way she goes, it is not a do-or-die matter in present circumstances, which is the impression you sometimes get in our discussions. There is way too much intensity and heat around this issue on the international left, given its modest size and the still relatively stable political situation [...]
