Rally in Washington, DC,
part of nationwide actions for women's rights
and abortion justice,
October 2, 2021.
The U.S. Congress is so
dysfunctional it cannot pass major legislation,
such as the budget, due
this past October, and instead keeps threatening
government shutdowns.
Such threats affect hundreds of thousands of
federal workers, seniors,
mothers, children and unemployed who require
federal payments like
Social Security to just survive. They also
further discredit Congress
and reinforce the growing view among the people
that it is no longer a
viable institution of governance. The Supreme
Court has also been
discredited, as it is seen as a politicized
force catering to one or
another vying faction, not only in terms of the
right to abortion but
other matters as well.
It is in this context of the
contention among the ruling factions in the
United States, the
discredited and dysfunctional institutions, and
the increasing claims
of the peoples for their rights and greater
control, Biden put forward
his Presidential Initiative for Democratic
Renewal.
He is striving to unite what he refers to as
"all of us," behind the
president and across the usual separations
between countries, levels of
government, and the peoples organizing to affirm
human rights. He is
striving to put in place organizational forms
that serve to bypass and
replace existing authorities and standards, both
nationally, such as
those between federal and state governments, as
well as those enshrined
in the United Nations Charter and the UN itself,
while putting
decision-making power in the hands of the
presidency.
Biden's
Presidential Initiative is a means to contend
with these many conflicts among the
authorities, within and between the president
and military, with
Congress, Governors, intelligence and other
policing agencies, etc. and
similarly in relation to other countries, by
bypassing them and
creating direct relations between the presidency
and various
organizational forms being put in place. He is
trying to eliminate
various authorities that can stand in the way of
presidential dictate.
The invitations to the Summit itself indicated
that Biden will decide
who is and is not to be included. "We're
affirming the democratic
values that are at the heart of our
international system" and "we're
committed to working with all who share those
values to shape the rules
of the road that are going to govern our
progress in the 21st century,"
Biden explained.
In some ways the
initiative is also an effort to bypass the
existing bureaucracies, at
least the civil ones, and put in place a
different machinery dedicated
to the presidency. This direction is in part a
reflection of the
disintegration of political parties and their
machinery and puts in
place separate machinery, much as Obama did for
his election and Bernie
Sanders did for his campaign as well. The utter
dysfunction and lack of
legitimacy of the existing institutions,
including the discredited
parties, is such that this counterrevolutionary
initiative is required
in the hopes of preventing what is now referred
to as "the death
spiral" of liberal democracy.
What gets left out is
that all of these authorities are not in step
with existing conditions,
which demand empowering the people to govern and
decide. People are
rejecting the framework in which governments
preside over them and are
superior to them yet are completely incapable of
providing the most
basic necessities of life and stand in contempt
of human rights.
Voice of Revolution is a publication of the U.S.
Marxist-Leninist Organization (USMLO).
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 1 - January 9, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2022/Articles/M520018.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
