Kucinich to drop out today + local updates

Kucinch to drop out of presidential race

 

In an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said he will officially leave the race Friday, and will not endorse another Democratic candidate.  Our local NPR station reported this, saying he added "color" to the (very few) debates he was allowed to participate in, because he admitted to seeing a UFO (and we know how NPR reports about UFO reports, based on their story a week or two ago about the Texas UFO), wants a Department of Peace, and voted against the Iraq War, in that order.  The BBC was more straightforward. The Black Agenda Report has a good article on how the media has treated Kucinch and his real progressive message, online at www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=500&Itemid=1.     

 

I'm surprised and disappointed about the end of the campaign, though he has not done very well so far and I've heard that he has several contenders for his seat in the House.  Since he is left-liberal on many issues, and has been for a long time, he was my obvious choice since I am willing to vote in the Democratic primary, and maybe I will vote for him anyway.  I will look at the other candidates again, but I think I rejected Mike Gravel because he is for a national sales tax and is against undocumented immigrants, if I remember his positions correctly.  I like John Edwards' populism, but I doubt he has changed that much and he could be an opportunist.  His opposition to the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository doesn't appeal to me, since I would prefer more nuclear reactors if the alternative is burning fossil fuels and building large hydroelectric dams.  I haven't heard much specific from Barack Obama and "change we can believe in" is an empty slogan with him.  The only change I really believe in is socialism, and the left of the Democratic Party offers more reforms than Obama, who I see as only more of the same.  Hillary Clinton is definitely an establishment warmonger, pro-Iraq War, pro-Israel, opportunist, etc.  I expect she will continue many of Bush's policies and possibly get us into a war with Iran if she wins.  Obama is for war in his statements about intervening in Sudan and Pakistan.  Edwards has apologized for his vote for the Iraq War when he was NC's Senator, but would he have done so if the Iraqis had not put up a fight?  I doubt it, in which case he is not a convert to anti-imperialism.  

 

I like some of what Ron Paul says, but I'm not planning to register as a Republican to vote for him.  I would consider supporting him in the general election, but a capitalist left party like the Greens is both anti-war and better on domestic issues, from my point of view, than Paul, and there are anti-capitalist parties competing (though they are non-Marxist, Trotskyist, or revisionist).    

 

I should emphasize that I think the US needs a real working class party, embodying working class demands, and even the left of the Democratic Party is a prop for capitalism and imperialism.  I vote because I have the opportunity, if the election is fair, to support small changes in the system and an administration less enamored of committing war crimes, but I would prefer a better choice.  Even if Kucinich won, he would not bring the changes we need, though I think his administration would offer us better bread crumbs from the table of capitalism than Clinton, Obama, Edwards, or any of the Republicans.  US workers are the majority and the source of America's wealth, so we should not settle for crumbs, and imperialism is against our democratic values and self-interest.      

 

Unfortunately many Marxist parties boycott elections or are too weak to run candidates from state or national office.  Boycotting elections is a legitimate tactic, but I think communists should run for office, starting at the local, state, and Congressional levels. The electoral process is biased in favor of the Democrats and Republicans though, and it would be foolish to assume the capitalist establishment would allow a socialist government to be elected.  They could use biased rules, dirty tricks, paramilitaries, a fascist takeover, or a coup to stop a revolution through the ballot box (or flawed electronic voting machine).  They already use the first two techniques in the USA.  But I think it is also foolish to not participate in a process most Americans still trust and which would be ideal if it were done without bias.  It would also be wrong to identify too closely with a Democratic or any other capitalist party candidate.      

 

Weekly peace rally starting in Raleigh 

 

Every Friday there will be a permitted protest at the Federal building in downtown Raleigh, on the 300 block of New Bern Avenue, from 4-6pm.  There is or was a regular vigil at NC State's Bell Tower around that time every Friday.  For more information, contact williamhcooley84 at yahoo dot com. 

 

Durham BORDC meeting Saturday

 

BORDC is meeting at 3pm at the North Branch Library Saturday. 

 

Video from the anti-torture protest in Smithfield

 

Independent Voices will be showing its report this Sunday at 6:30pm at the Raleigh Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.