Gary Younge (Guardian Utd): A nation divided

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Monday December 1

A nation divided
Voters either adore or abhor Bush. This is the one factor that will determine next year's US election
By Gary Younge

Every weekday afternoon on CNN, a programme called Crossfire pits a Democrat commentator against a Republican. In what passes for debate, they raise topical issues in rapid succession and bellow over each other in an attempt to score cheap points and earn applause from the studio audience.
The overriding impression is one of mayhem, machismo, bluster and braggadocio. The aim is not to win anyone over but to shout them down. Those who clap do so not because they have been convinced but because their views have been confirmed. A few years ago this would have resembled little more than a device for a knockabout show on a channel with more airtime than news. But with the presidential election less than a year away, Crossfire is beginning to serve as a metaphor for the state of US political discourse.
A nation riven between those who adore President Bush and those who abhor him is in no mood for reasoned discussion. Having rallied around the flag after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and then again (though less so) when the troops went to war, people are now retreating to their political affiliations. And all the indications are that they intend to stay there until polling day. The presidential elections of 2004 will be decided not by who can sway the centre but rather who can shore up their base.
For every sign that some are desperate for regime change at home, there is proof that a similar number have undying faith in the president. In a recent Time/CNN poll, 47% said they were likely to vote for George Bush and 48% said they would not; 79% of Republicans said they believed he was a president you could trust, 75% of Democrats said they thought he wasn't; 68% of Democrats believed he had been "too quick to interject his own moral and religious beliefs into politics", 67% of Republicans believed he hadn't. Break down the response of almost any question along party lines and the nation appears irrevocably split - separate outlooks roughly equal in size.

Read more.

[T_i_B]

1. Good article

The basic message of which is that the left needs to be more organized first and foremost from what I can see.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. As Will Rogers said

"I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." That was before the election of FDR.

The American Left just wouldn't be the American Left if it were organized.

However, that may just have to change. Bush is not just another conservative president, like his father or like Reagan. We may not have liked those guys, but they won elections and we abided by the result. In the last fifteen years or so, the GOP has evolved into something else. Rather than abide by the results of an election or an accepted political process, today's Republican seek to get around them. If Clinton wins, then impeach him, no matter how silly the reason; if Davis wins, then recall him; if the Democrats have too many seats in the Texas congressional delegation, then redistrict; if Bush can't carry Florida, then disenfranchize voters and if that doesn't work, then don't count the votes. And they wonder why we would even think there might be something fishy about black box voting.

America has become a banana republic under Bush. Elections are stolen; public funds go to cronies; civil liberties are threatend. This is unacceptable. Bush's administration stands outside the traditions of American political thought. He has no more right to call himself President than does a skidrow bum. He should not be opposed so much as he should be resisted. If the Republicans don't respect American democratic institutions, then we can't afford to, either. The goal is restoring them in order that we can live under them once again. However, there is no sense trying to live by them when they have been made obsolete by yuppie fascists.

Removing Bush from power will require unity and organization by his opposition. The internet provides a useful tool. So far, both disaffected liberals (MoveOn) and the hard Left (ANSWER) have shown that they can use it to organize against Bush and his atrocities. However, if we can't oust him from power in the next election, we may have to escalate resistance into full scale civil disobedience. That will take more organization and discipline than we've seen in a very long time.

Ousting Bush will not be done with an election. It will be done with a movement.

[ramapo]

3. Ousting Bush will not be done with an election. It will be done with a mo

That says it all.

[T_i_B]

4. One of the main points in Younge's writing

is that a movement is needed, but one with a viable electoral strategy. To that end Gary Younge seems to be quite enamoured of the likes of Howard Dean (perhaps because we do not have a British version of that guy) and disillusioned by 3rd way politics.