Unity

I keep waiting to see Biden give some kind of lip service to the left.  I'd heard of some things but never dug deep enough to find them. On many obvious things, like Medicare for All, or Legalizing Marijuana, he hasn't moved one millimeter as far as I can tell.  But anything he said make me feel better, any kind of token gift or promise to the left.  I wouldn't believe it, but I would feel better about supporting him and send some money.  He'd be recognizing my existence.  Of course I'll vote for the Democratic Nominee, and even send them some money once they are nominated.  But Biden hasn't actually "won" the Democratic Nomination yet.  Why should I put my thumb down on the scale for the candidate I like least before the convention?  There could still be some kind of miracle at the Convention.  Such things have happened before.  Once the convention is over, then, that's a good enough excuse to send the winner of the nomination a contribution to help Defeat Trump.

But the emails I get from Biden and DNC are nothing but dispiriting.

I got nothing, Zip, Nada, about any Biden plans or hopes, other than Defeating Trump.  No vision, no specific promises, nothing.  (Apparently the little people don't get promises, because that might suggest weakness in the promises already or later made to oligarchs.)

"Unity!" is what they are calling for.

In other words, "Sit down and shut up."

I'm sorry, but that's worse than not good enough.  I'm not just being ignored, I'm being bossed around.

A lot of Democrats have that attitude also.  "Don't say anything that might hurt Biden," they say.

That's totalitarianism, and it turns a lot of free thinking people off.

And then there are stories like Rall's, where Biden might even be worse than Trump in a few areas, such as in ending the War in Afghanistan.  I see a lot of those.  I'd like to see Biden make it clear he is better, not just assume his voters believe that already, because they may not by the time the day comes.

I argue against those who make wrong claims like "both parties are the same" etc.  Or that it is not important to defeat Trump.  It is very important to defeat Trump!  But not so important as to give up our core principles of free thinking, universal criticism, and free speech.

Now some may criticize me for not following Alinsky principles here.  Fine, I say.  Alinsky had a few victories, but where is the Alinsky project now?  Most direct Alinsky programs ended in failure, and the Alinsky project as a whole has not produced significant change in most people's lives.  There are a lot of reasond, but many believe the main one is that, untlimately, it matters what people believe.  There's only so much that fake unity, falling in line to win today's victory, can accomplish.

It's true that fake unity, falling in line, does matter once and awhile, such as on Election Day.  I'm not arguing against that.  I'm arguing against the idea that we shouldn't honestly criticize our own side.

Then others may ask, since when have Republicans and Fascists (and I repeat myself) honestly criticized their own side?

Well of course, never.  But in their own terms, Republicans and Fascists are critical nearly all the time.

Republicans believe in the magic of tax cuts, if we hollow out the government and give more power directly to the capitalists, paradise will have arrived, they say.

And Republican politicitions often deliver on this desire, and have been delivering for 40 years!  If only Democratic Politicians had delivered as consistently and well on their promises!  Taxes on the wealthy are a pittance today compared with 1980.

But this doesn't stop Republicans, and Republican commentators, and Republican media, from endlessly saying it's not enough!  They never stop complaining about Republicans not fully following Republican principles and ideals.

And some on the Republican side even dare to criticize War and Empire.  I'm thinking of Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan.  We always wonder how real this criticism is.  Reading such articles, we wonder how it is that such people can even think of voting for another pro-war Republican President.

But, when election day rolls around, sure enough, all the alleged Republican anti-warriors bite their ideals in the ass and vote for another Republcian president even when he's clearly more a danger to peace than otherwise.

In short, members of the Republican Party refuse to sit down and shut up.  Except on Election Day.  And this approach has paid off in 40 years of further rightward tilt in the republic.

Nowhere, ever, do I see Republican pols call for "unity" as a thing.  They wouldn't dare.  And better than that, they don't need to.

In truth, Republicans take the opposite approach.  They hand out the cans of gasoline to ideological arsonists.  They push crazy to new heights every day.  And there is a reason for this.  It's as Barry Goldwater said.  Extremism in the pursuit of extremist ideals is fine, so long as those ideals serve the wheels of capitalism.

On the other side, "Loonie Leftists" who only crime is the wish to see peace and equality, are not allowed.  The Democratic Party as an institution is a sheep herding operation, that delivers anti-capitalist and anti-war voters to capitalists.  They don't want the people wandering too far off the path of capital and empire...and that is the whole point of the operation--to keep them from doing that.  Minor deviation from strict capitalist principles is allowed in the interests of suppressing calls for greater ones.  Criticism is to be as muted as possible, instead we sing songs of fake unity and punish our dissidents as being Republican-Lovers.

Many on the Left are not standing for that for one second.  They will stand firm to their principles, and cast their votes for sure losers like Green Party candidates, with the vengence of injured pride.  This is also quite acceptable to the Capitalists and Imperialists, because they know that at the end of the day, it amounts to nothing, weakening rather than strengthening any true movement forwards.  So the more they criticize The Duopoly and demand personal purity, the better, from the Capitalist perspective.

Communists know we must defeat the Republicans as our first priority in electoral politics.  So wel will vote for Democratic candidates, who are the only ones capable of doing that at this time, and perhaps ever in a Madisonian republic such as the USA as long as it exists.  And we will support and campaign for them as long as we can be honest doing so.   We will not hide the distaste of necessity.  But we also know that electoral politics is not everything in politics, it is only one highly limited tool in the box.  Other than on Election Day, we must use those other tools, or submit to be sheep herded by capitalist managers.  And the most powerful tool for those other days has always been sharp, accurate, and fearless criticism.  If we lose that, we lose our reason for being.  And if people see us never doing anything but genuflecting to the slightly pinker shade of capitalists, they will lose trust in our feelings and interest in our battles.

Every election is the most important election of all time.  If we abandon our principles just to win any one, we might as well just pack up and put on clown clothes.  No one will care what we say and just change the channel instead.

It's only voting as such that requires compromise, because that is what voting in a Madisonian republic is.  We can pull the wheel ever so slightly in one direction or the other, or dance on the hub in a useless celebration of purity.