|
I
must confess to not having paid a great deal of attention
to all of the minutiae of the Democratic National
Convention. What I did watch was enough to see that
it was a piece of political theatre, where all of
the actors read their lines with conviction, but nothing
of substance was said.
Joseph
Goebbels couldn't have scripted it better. The party
elite made their speeches, the adoring delegates cheered,
and there was even musical accompaniment (although
Van Halen is a far cry from Wagner). It just needed
Leni Riefenstahl and her camera. There was even less
democracy in action there than in the political chambers
which approved Patriot Acts and wars.
Aside
from Dennis Kucinich, none of the speakers said anything
of substance which would even slightly set them apart
from their Republican Party brethren, and even he
dodged the issue of the war in Iraq. Indeed, all controversial
issues were completely ignored. Well, that isn't entirely
true. John Kerry boasted that he would prosecute the
so-called "war on terror" more effectively
than George W. Bush, but that's only controversial
if you mistakenly expect a Democratic candidate to
be anti-war.
Yet,
according to a CBS/New York Times poll, some 90% of
DNC delegates were opposed to the war in Iraq. It
was a surreal sight to see those delegates cheering
for some of the same people who voted in favor of
that war and who want to send even more US soldiers
to Iraq. There's a glitch in the delegates' thinking
that I frankly don't understand.
In
a few weeks time, the Republican National Convention
will follow the same script. In the end, the message
is that the average person has nothing to contribute
politically except cheering for vague speeches from
their political masters, then casting a vote for one
of them come Election Day.
If
you're looking for an alternative, it won't be found
in the Democratic Party. It'll be found in a mass
radical political movement from below with systemic
change as its goal, and it's imperative that such
a movement take flight sooner rather than later. The
DNC was just a tawdry sideshow of bread and circuses.
The
November election will simply continue the theme,
with Bush vs. Kerry marketed like a Coke vs. Pepsi
taste test. No matter which one you choose, you still
get a can of carbonated water and high fructose corn
syrup. In conclusion, is either choice healthy?
Index: Current Articles + Latest News and Views + Book Reviews +
Letters + Archives
|
