George W Bush won the election! FUCK, that sucks. All Americans are backward, racist, corporation-loving, gun-toting, war-mongering bigots! How else could GWB have won the election? The only answer, apparently, is that ALL Americans are true reactionaries. Vile Scum, every last one of 'em. This argument makes a lot of sense, because after all, you WOULD have to be a REAL fucking bigot/ignorant war-lover to actually VOTE for "President" Bush in 2004. To me, this argument is just a little too convenient, especially for all those American & Canadian left-wing intellectuals who largely supported Kerry in the last election.

This analysis has, of course, been by far the dominant one in the media. According to the media, the election proves that America supports Bush's ultra-right-wing corporate agenda: imperialist war abroad, cuts to social services and bigotry at home. This analysis is all-too-predictable coming from the establishment press. It won't surprise anyone reading THIS email that the corporations who own the American media (CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX) are the exact same corporations who are currently making billions of dollars off of the war in Iraq: General Electric, General Motors, etc, etc, etc. The corporate media will always legitimize the corporate agenda in any way it can: corporate candidates for office are always right, on every issue, and corporate wars are always justified, regardless of the situation. All of this is just a given. Old news. What bothers me, is that as far as I can tell, sections of the American & Canadian Left have bought into this latest round of electoral propaganda, and all of its ugly implications. For all of us on the left who supported Kerry, and ignored the facts, the idea that Bush won because workers are stupid is convenient, but completely reactionary. It is based on the bizarre assumption that a Kerry victory would have been...what? A victory for the working class? For social justice? The policies of Bush and Kerry were virtually indistinguishable in every way. Certainly not a new development for the American Plutocracy. Poll after poll shows that the MAJORITY of Americans are FAR to the left of BOTH establishment parties on most issues: universal health care, pre-emptive war, free-trade, UN, immigration, environment, etc, etc. At Chomsky's UofT talk, "The Imperial Presidency," (which was great) he emphasized that ISSUES are marginalized from elections by the powers-that-be for good reason, with a predictable alienating effect on the public: the majority, if given the opportunity to vote progressive, would! Needless to say, Americans are not given that option. You can vote for the stupid-white guy that is pro-war or the rich-white guy that is pro-war. FUCK IT, why vote? (50% didn't.)

There is no question that our (US-Can) society is completely divided. Polarized. "Respectable" liberal opinion is unanimous: the divide is between the educated, wealthy, liberal-enlightened middle-class and our good friends in the "socially responsible" business community on one side, and the backward, uneducated, ignorant-racist working-class Bush supporters on the other. (Less than 30% of the American working-class voted for Bush.) This conclusion is not supported by the majority of research, largely collected by the corporate media, showing class-conscious, socially progressive ideas as the norm. But thats OK. Better to blame the working-class than deal with real issues. Is a society truly "democratic" if the vast majority of its population are excluded, on principle, from economic decision making? If the vast majority of a society's wealth & resources are privately owned and concentrated? What if those same private interests are completely unaccountable and unregulated?

Democracy and Capitalism are mutually exclusive. This is a fairly uncontroversial truism in places like Argentina, devastated by the IMF. If you don't believe me, Naomi Klein's new documentary, "The Take," is a brilliant example. My experience in NYC, at the largest political demonstration in American history (500,000), was truly inspiring. I saw first hand the amazing political clarity of the American working-class, not to mention the wide-spread desperation to oppose corporate hegemony, in any way possible. It goes without saying that the majority did not see the last election as such an opportunity.

Yours in Fear & Loathing of www.mitchleblanc.com,
MDP