Freedom Socialist Vol. 29, No. 2 April-May 2008EDITORIAL
Don’t settle for chump change: vote socialist!
Soon citizens will choose the president of the most powerful and destructive country in the world. Among the millions cast, your vote can count for something. But only if you vote socialist. Here’s why. The sad truth is that whichever major party candidate wins, he or she will not fix the economic system that is responsible for leaving most hardworking folks worried, underpaid and uninsured. Regardless of their rhetoric, there isn’t one who will end the occupation of Iraq now, or divert the $200 million a day cost to improve healthcare, housing, education and pensions. That’s because all these candidates represent capitalist parties that generally like the ways things are. Voting for one of them (even if just to keep another one out!) is accepting the status quo. It allows mega-corporations to continue treating the world’s people and resources as just another source of profit. Everybody knows nothing happens in capitalist societies if there’s no money to be made. The politicians follow the bidding of the biggest bosses. Don’t be seduced by the hype. You can proudly resist the manipulations of the fat cats by voting for a bonafide socialist candidate. This beats voting for the lesser of two evils or “none of the above,” because you choose a real alternative. A socialist party would organize people to change what’s wrong. If you need convincing, think of how your workplace would improve if you and your co-workers ran it instead of bosses. That is what a socialist society would be like, on a grand scale. Your vote indicates your preference for things as they should be. It also registers your protest of things as they are. The bosses watch the vote, don’t think that they don’t! Nader and the Greens have good ideas but aren’t anti-capitalist. Ralph Nader’s voice is welcome in raising issues that the other candidates bury: single-payer healthfull Medicare for all, dismantling the bloated Pentagon budget, and reversing the tax cuts. But Nader also acts as though the brutality of capitalism can be reformed away. So does the Green Party, which rightly calls for social justice and ecological wisdom, but suggests that persuasive logic can divert capitalist greed. Their offer to be an alternative to the Democratic Party makes them appealing to fed-up voters. But by leaving intact an economic system run by and for billionaires, the Greens nurture hope where it shouldn’t exist. Some leftists including Socialist Alternative opportunistically support Nader, calling him the “strongest left challenge to the two parties of big business.” They brush principle aside to appeal to youth, rather than educate on the need for socialism. There are Genuine alternatives running for president. They won’t appear in all states due to reactionary electoral laws, but if none appear on your ballot, you may be able to write in your choice. The candidates of socialist parties call for ending the war now, full reproductive rights for women, pensions and healthcare for all, rights for peoples of color and immigrants and shifting the economic burden to the rich. These aren’t pie-in-the-sky goals, although they do require a fundamental shift in priorities. But socialist parties offer to help organize and fight for this shift. They are all worthy of your vote, though each has strengths and weaknesses in program and practice. The Socialist Workers Party, while politically a shadow of its former self, offers strong, concrete measures to improve people’s lives, such as calling for wages to go up as prices rise. Its presidential contender is Roger Calero. The Socialist Party (SP) is running Brian Moore. Although SP unrealistically views socialism as a gradual, evolutionary process, it calls for full rights and sanctuary for immigrants and for public ownership of natural resources. This electoral season, the Socialist Party took the positive step of first seeking a socialist coalition. But only the Freedom Socialist Party, which has urged this development for years, responded. Given the small size of radical parties, combining forces for greater impact makes good sense! The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), running Gloria La Riva, is advancing some especially worthy demands, including a $15 minimum wage and an end to police brutality. If only PSL, which leads the anti-war group ANSWER, collaborated with others in the movements! The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) in California also has an anti-capitalist program, although not all of its candidates do. PFP will choose this time’s candidates in August. Casting a vote for a candidate who is truly independent from the system will let you brag that you took a step fixing this murderous system we live under. Vote socialist in 2008! |
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