Efforts to Divide the People Failing Despite Biden/Trump Dangerous Brinkmanship
There are numerous examples indicating that people in the U.S. are united in demanding that government uphold its responsibility to meet their claims for safe water, protection from heat waves and hurricanes and funding for losses, for housing and education for all, for safe working conditions and wages commensurate with the work done, for peace and an end to U.S. wars. Polls repeatedly show that a large and growing majority think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Through various means like strikes, demonstrations, Zoom meetings, petitions and more, many are demanding a new direction, one that serves the interests of society, its many collectives, and individuals, that harmonizes human relations, rather than further antagonizing and destroying them.
However people may vote November
8, their striving for this
direction is evident in the broad public support across the
country for
health care workers as they strike and organize for the safe
staffing,
protective gear, and safe working conditions they and their
patients
and communities require.
The same can be said of repeated stands and actions, including
hunger
strikes, rejecting the government's inhumane and brutal
treatment of
immigrants and refugees, especially women and children. As it
has been
put by many, "No Crimes Against Humanity in Our Community."
There are growing efforts among younger workers, such as those at Amazon, Trader Joe's, Apple, REI, Chipotle and Starbucks not only to organize at the workplace but to also organize Zoom meetings and conferences to unite and exchange experiences. Many are also joining various political actions against government racism, its refusal to uphold standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, against racist police killings, attacks on Indigenous rights and more.
It can be said that the majority have common demands and in their millions are organizing for their rights and joining various efforts to defend the rights of all, at home and abroad.
The rulers on the other hand are
deeply divided, with their
dysfunctional and outdated institutions no longer serving to
resolve
conflicts within their ranks and provide for the peaceful
transition of
power. They are also concerned about the fact that the people
are
angered by government impunity
and refusal to solve the most basic problems such as clean water
and
reliable electricity, heat, and housing for all. As the Amazon
workers,
for example, indicate, there is recognition by working people of
the
necessity to rely on themselves, not the government, and to look
for
alternatives to the
fraud and failure of the U.S.-style democracy of Biden and
Trump.
It is in the context of the continuing failure of the U.S. state, including the first two years of the Biden presidency, that Trump and Biden have engaged in a bitter and dangerous brinkmanship as the ruling factions they represent vie for the power of the presidency. Even before the 2020 elections this was evident in Trump's claims about election fraud. Since then, there have been the efforts of the House of Representatives' January 6 Committee, which most recently subpoenaed Trump to provide records and testify. He has so far refused and may not ever testify if the Committee is disbanded because of losses by the Democrats in the midterms.
There have been both civil and criminal prosecutions against Trump forces by New York State and criminal investigations, but no charges yet, by the Justice Department. There was the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and his countersuits against the government actions.
There continue to be various claims and counter claims concerning Russia and China. Both camps are acting to try to keep the U.S. on top as "indispensable nation." Biden has carried out provocation after provocation against China while also trying to crush Russia using the war in Ukraine -- both efforts failures while increasing the danger of more aggressive U.S. wars.
What is also further evident now, in part through the January 6 hearings, is that there are sufficient grounds to bring criminal charges against Trump and others, but the Justice Department so far is refusing to. It is considered by many among the contending ruling factions that doing so could trigger open, violent civil war, something all are trying to avoid. However, lack of action further exposes the President, Justice Department, and the policing agencies as an illegitimate force -- contributing to people's anger and dissatisfaction with government and a striving for alternatives. Why should people accept the use of violence against them by the state, whether through mass incarceration, police attacks against demonstrators, police racist killings and more, when their rule is no longer legitimate and the fraud and impunity evident for all to see?
Biden and Trump have been on the campaign trail. Biden has emphasized that "democracy is on the ballot" and said in a speech last week, "In a typical year, we're often not faced with questions of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put us at risk." His forces routinely refer to the "extreme right-wing," of the Republican Party, often called the MAGA Republicans. Trump continues to discredit the elections and refers to "radical left-wing maniacs," telling crowds that "every free and loving American needs to understand that the time to stand up to this growing left-wing tyranny is right now."
What is the aim of discrediting
the elections on the one hand and
claiming democracy is on the ballot on the other? They are two
sides of
the same coin, which is preserving rule by the rich oligarchs
while
keeping the people out of power. There is an effort to inflame
passions
to divide the
people and prevent them from building their unity and the
political
battle for a people's democracy that serves their interests. The
divisions of the rulers are to be imposed on the people.
The claims of "left-wing" and "right-wing" extremes are aimed mainly at the peoples resisting and to criminalize their struggles and justify repression. The danger also lies in the fact that the rulers do not control the situation and act to destroy what they cannot control, even if it means violent destruction and division of the country itself. While they try to avoid such an outcome, the brinkmanship and failures will bring more anarchy and violence. That the U.S. could resort to more imperialist war to avoid civil war remains a serious threat. So too does the possibility of violent civil war at home. Both are grave dangers for the peoples of the world.
Whatever the results of the elections, what stands out is that U.S. rulers are no longer fit to rule and serve only to further divide and disinform the peoples while striving to hold onto their power. New relations of power are required, the time for democracy of the peoples' own making that empowers them to govern and decide is now. Stepping up the fight for rights and building an alternative, new institutions, new constitutions is urgent and necessary.
(Voice of Revolution)
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 44 - November 8, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520444.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca