Thank you Elaine Bernard for dismissing J Case's use of Trotskyist as a term of abuse in his/her response to my New Party critique. Apparently it's a favorite term of New Partisans, since that's how they characterized my 1993 pieces on the Party; maybe it has something to do with their CP connections in NYC. Or maybe it's just a reflex on the part of lefties with refractory ties to the Democrats. I don't deny for a second that there are many fine people at the grassroots level of the NP. But I wonder if the strategy of fusion with the Dems will end up betraying and/or burning out these grassroots people. From what I saw in NYC, the leadership was more interested in cutting deals than it was it building a mass membership. Now it may be that NYC is not a fair representation of national politics; certainly things here can be unusually hidebound and toxic. But NYC is the perfect example of how the links between good lefties and the Dems result in truly awful politics and government; there's nothing more dispiriting than to hear otherwise intelligent social democrats tell you what a great guy David Dinkins is. Or how Mario Cuomo, prison-builder extraordinaire, is a must-re-elect. The betrayals and failures of Dinkins and Cuomo are precisely the reason that both lost to right-wing Republicans. They are precisely the kind of figure a new party should be targeting - but the New Party did nothing of the sort. NYC may not be representative, yes, but neither are Madison and Little Rock. Perhaps from tiny acorns etc etc, but I'm afraid transforming national politics is a lot more akin to the NYC environment than it is to pleasant burgs in the heartland. Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA 212-874-4020 voice 212-874-3137 fax
