Socialist Alternative

Vote Nader, Build an Alternative to the Two Corporate Parties!
by Canyon Lalama
After eight long years of war, economic crisis, corruption and lies, George W. Bush will be leaving the White House as the most unpopular president in U.S. history. Many are looking forward to the end of the Bush regime and hoping that Barack Obama will turn the country around.

Yet despite his eloquent rhetoric, Obama does not represent a real change from the corporate consensus that has brought us war, poverty, and massive inequality.

Both McCain and Obama support continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan indefinitely, the expansion of the military by 90,000 more troops, pro-corporate free trade deals like NAFTA, the disastrous for-profit healthcare system, the bailout of giant banks at the expense of working people, and a host of other policies that benefit Corporate America at the expense of the majority of the population.

That’s why i Socialist Alternative is supporting Ralph Nader’s independent, anti-corporate, anti-war campaign for president.

The Democrats Back Down

The Democratic Party has a long history of betraying the workers and youth that vote for them. In 2006 frustration with the GOP led to a near landslide sweep by the Democrats, who took control of Congress.

However, after two years of Democratic Party control, Congress has failed to put the brakes on the reckless Bush agenda. This failure was reflected in opinion polls again this July, with Congress receiving a historic low rating of only 9%.

Millions of people were hoping the Democratic Congress would be able to put an end to the war and reverse Bush’s pro-corporate policies and maybe even go as far as to start impeachment proceedings against what Ralph Nader refers to as “the most multiply impeachable presidency in U.S. history.”

These hopes were dashed. Democratic leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others quickly showed their true colors by continually voting and re-voting to fund the war, as well as taking impeachment entirely off the table.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Pelosi and other conservative Democrats that betrayed the millions that voted for them. Even supposedly left wing Democrats have shifted to the right once in office.

Local representative Keith Ellison stands as a stark example of the Democrats’ betrayal of their so-called progressive values.

In 2006, Ellison became the first Muslim to be elected to Congress, running on a strong anti-war platform, promising to never vote for war funding and securing the party nomination through the tireless work of anti-war activists.

However, last March, Ellison faced his first test on war funding. With anti-war activists sitting in his office in North Minneapolis advocating a “no” vote, Ellison went along with the party leadership and voted in favor of the bill which allocated an additional $124 billion for the war.

Ellison and the Democrats tried to cover this up by highlighting the bill’s fall 2008 timetable for withdrawal. Unfortunately, on closer look, this “withdrawal” still would have meant tens of thousands of troops to guard the embassy, train Iraqi military and police and “fight Al-Qaeda.”

In an editorial to the Star Tribune, Ellison defended his vote as a “compromise”. Interestingly, mere weeks after his “compromise” Ellison was chosen to accompany Pelosi on a high profile trip to the Middle East.

Barack Obama secured victory in the primaries by portraying himself as a left-wing alternative to the Democratic Party establishment. Yet, almost immediately after declaring victory in front of a crowd of 30,000 in St. Paul, he began the time-honored Democratic tradition of shifting to the right in order to prove his loyalty to Corporate America.Since locking up the nomination, Obama has spoken in favor of giving more money to Israel to maintain the brutal occupation of Palestine, backed down on such issues as NAFTA, domestic spying and off shore oil drilling, and called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan. He has shifted away from his “small donor” support in favor of $30,000 a plate dinners and huge donations from corporations.

We Need an Alternative

The reality is that the Democrats are just as tied to big business and war profiteers as the Republicans. Despite framing themselves as a progressive opposition party, when in power, the Democrats will continue to represent the interests of their corporate backers.

It’s high time we stop placing our trust and our votes in the Democrats. We need an alternative that will fight for our interests over the interests of corporate America.

That’s why Socialist Alternative is supporting Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez in the 2008 elections.

Nader-Gonzalez are running independent of the two-party system, standing on a platform that includes an immediate end to the war in Iraq, a massive reduction in the military budget, universal single payer healthcare, a living wage of $10/hour, ending corporate welfare and repealing anti-union legislation such as the Taft-Hartley act.

The Nader campaign gives an alternative to those of us who are frustrated with the two-party system and want to see real progressive policies represented in this election.

Of course, it is highly unlikely Nader will be elected president this fall. Even though he’s polling at 6% in several polls, the Democrats and Republicans will do everything they can to keep him out of the presidential debates, and the corporate media will continue its virtual blackout of the campaign. This campaign, however, will open the door to other progressive independent candidates to challenge the Democrats and Republicans and the corporate monopoly on politics.

This is just the first step, however. Socialist Alternative supports the creation of a new mass left-wing party. Such a party would represent trade unions, social movements, and fight on a day-to-day basis for the interests of workers and youth, both in the elections and in the streets. It would be a party for the millions, not the millionaires!

Ultimately, we need to change this rotten system which is at the root of war, poverty, environmental devastation, and corporate domination.

Capitalism has proven itself to cause nothing but misery and destruction for the majority of humanity. Socialism however, will allow us to take our society out of the hands of a tiny elite minority and put control of major decisions where it belongs: in the hands of the majority. Join us in the struggle for real democracy - join us in the fight for socialism!