Bread and Roses by The Rogue

Voter disgust with both political parties may create support a third party in 2008, much to chagrin of those talking heads once more calling for the Dems to stick rigidly to the center. (See Marty Kaplan, The Suicide Strategy--Not!" (at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/the-suicide-strategy-not_b_71741.html )

But I don't expect the worldview of elite pundits or top Democratic consultants to be even slightly dented by a new survey showing popular disgust with the current bi-partisan system, which is fundamentally shaped by legal payoffs and policy paybacks. Recognizing that the conventional wisdom about the need for more timid, tepid centrism is dead wrong? Realizing that Bush and the increasingly hard-Right Republicans have shifted the definition of "centrism" many degrees to the right?

No way. The supposed formula for victory--being moderate even on the most intense concerns of the voter--has been proven wrong election after election in Democratic presidential defeats. Even with the apparent exception of Bill Clinton--who rammed through NAFTA and signed welfare reform, among many betrayals of his Democratic base--it is crucial to remember that he ran in 1992 as a something of a populist promising economic policies that would "put people first."

But the wisemen of the Democratic Party--many of them, like Robert Rubin and Roger Altman, drawn from Wall Street--are pressing hard to keep the party on a "moderate" course that avoids a sharp break from the agenda of corporate globalization or even the speedy withdrawal from Iraq promised to voters in 2006.

MAJORITY VIEWS EXCLUDED
Bold issue positions that would distinguish the Democratics have long been ruled off the radar screen of acceptable political options. For example:

67% of Americans favor a healthcare system like those in Canada or Britain (Business Week, 5/15/05);
77% of Americans are opposed to the outsourcing of US jobs (Pew Research poll released for Labor Day 2006);
76% of Americans support full public funding of elections, recognizing that a small outlay of taxpayer dollars up-front will help to prevent hugely expensive policy paybacks down the road , according to a Public Campaign poll.
Some 69% of US citizens want an end to the US military occupation of Iraq (I believe that was an NBC/Wall St. Journal poll)

Further, 72% of US soldiers in Iraq wanted a complete pullout by the end of 2006 (!), according to a James Zogby poll. (This poll produced fascinating results, because the troops still in Iraq--based on what I have heard from veterans--tend to shut off discussion of anti-war positions. Thus, individual polling produced results far different from what current soldiers are willing to say among their comrades, for whatever reason.) Additionally, the Iraqis themselves--whose views on the occupation of their country are discussed in the mainstream US media about as often as the estimated 1.2 million civilian deaths (that is, almost never) --feel strongly opposed to the presence of the US and British occupiers by an 82% margin (leaked British Ministry of Defence poll, August 2005). Meanwhile, the Iraqi Parliament has voted that any renewal of authorization of the US presence must obtain 2/3 approval, presenting a major legal barrier to the occupation.

MAJORITY FAR TO THE LEFT OF DEMS
Nonetheless, the Democratic-held Congress has been intimidated by the illusion that "the surge" will somehow restore stability, thus buying into Bush's occupation without end. So on the most critical issues of the day--Iraq, health care (listed in polls not only as the most pressing domestic concern, but also the #1 "economic issue" for Americans), the outsourcing of jobs, and the roots of corporate domination of both Democratic and Republican administrations (ie., heavy dependence on corporate CEO campaign contributions), two-thirds to three-quarters of the American people are far to the Left of positions that can barely be discussed within the Democratic Party, much less mainstream discourse.

But the vast majority of Americans who hold such positions imagine themselves to hold "far-out" views that are unacceptable to most other people, because a) such stances barely enter mainstream media discourse or even the speeches of Democratic leaders and b) their prevailing majority status (with the exception of Iraq) is never widely discussed in the conventional corporate press.

Imagine if a cohesive vocal group of Democratic and progressive leaders articulated and defended those views day after day through news media that treated such views respectfully and stressed that they represented the positions of most Americans. As an indicator of how poorly the mainstream media are performing, only in the alternative media and the blogosphere do the majority's support for fundamental change find any consistent outlet. No wonder Karl Rove grumbled about the Web, "People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe [ie., holding views backed by 2/3 or more of Americans, but unacceptable to discuss in elite circles] of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog." (Quoted in NY Times, Nov. 11, 2007)

But despite majority support on key issues, those who articulate progressive views are dismissed not just by Karl Rove but by the leading levels of the Democratic Party and their donors as "the nutty fringe." In responding to this reality, progressives need to recognize what I consider two difficult truths:
1) The US political system makes it virtually impossible for a third party to play anything but a spoiler role, thereby forcing us--at least for the forseeable future--into creating a coherent Left within the Democratic Party.
2) Spreading information and opinion via the web extends our reach, but in the main, still leaves us mostly reinforcing or venting our outrage to those who already agree with us. We must therefore devote much more energy to opening up the mainstream media to coverage of progressive viewpoints and activities.

Until we find effective means of impacting the corporate-influenced Democratic Party and the corporate-run mainstream media, those of us pushing for genuine economic democracy at home and an end to empire will be effectively marginalized.