United States
Disastrous U.S. Presidential Debate
U.S. President Joe Biden, aka
Genocide Joe, continues to face
insurmountable difficulties since the U.S. presidential debate
held on
June 27, which is universally called a "disaster." More
Democrats are
openly calling for him to quit the campaign, those backing
Vice-President Kamala Harris are
openly "strategizing" for her to be the pick to replace him, and
on it
goes. When all is said and done, it certainly appears that the
debate
was a set-up to get him to quit. Lots of media emphasis before
the
debate was that he couldn't afford to stumble and focused on
that; then
after, a lot about
how he did just that.
Debates normally take place after the summer nominations, in September and October and there was no need for Biden to debate now. It looks like even those within his campaign, as well as big donors are maneuvering to get him out. While most of the Democrats coming out openly for him to quit are from the House of Representatives and not especially significant, simply the fact that more are doing so is important. Top people in the Senate, long Biden's base, are so far not coming out in support. Reportedly leaders in both the Senate and House are holding meetings to discuss Biden and options to replace him, highly unusual and further indication that there will be increasing efforts to get him out. The timing of a June debate, before the August nominating convention, also provides time for a new candidate to gain national recognition while preventing a publicly divisive and destructive convention. Biden so far has said he will not quit but demands for him to do so not only continue but are increasing.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi publicly expressed reservations. Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are still supporting and campaigning for Biden, though Obama is also expressing "concerns" about his ability to beat Trump. In Las Vegas, Michelle Obama still remains the odds-on favorite. She is not campaigning for Biden and has not commented recently on running although she is on the record as saying she will not run. But of course, she can count on the Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders machinery if she does and is really the only one among the various forces with national name recognition, despite the fact she has never held any office at any level.
Keep in mind that unlike Obama and Sanders, who both used primaries to create and develop their own independent machinery, Biden still depends on the machinery of the Democratic Party, which itself is far more splintered and less powerful than in the past. This means he needs the backing of the various state parties for his campaign and must therefore cater to their demands which contend with the federal powers. He likely also will rely on the Zionists' AIPAC machinery, which is significant in some states. AIPAC and allied billionaires just spent $23 million in a Democratic primary race in New York City to defeat Jamaal Bowman, who has taken important stands regarding Palestine and on other issues.
One reason Biden was put forward in the first place and why the main party machinery is generally sticking with him is the fear that absent his candidacy, all out open gang warfare will break out within the party. So far, the main governors considering running (Gavin from California, Whitmer from Michigan, and Pritzker from Illinois) and current Vice-President Harris have not succeeded in emerging as a champion that could lessen the divisions and divert the broad public opposition to Biden, especially on the support of the ruling class for the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people. The movement that emerged using the vote to reject Biden and stand against genocide is still organizing in key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. So are many of the students who remain strongly in support of Palestine and are angered by the repression and system of rule through police powers in general.
The debate was also characterized by its completely non-political nature, with both candidates mainly calling each other names, talking about golf and refusing to provide any serious information or solutions to problems of concern to the people, such as genocide inside and outside the country. The absence of politics reflects the reality that neither party is political but rather both are part of a mafia-like cartel, with factions brutally vying for power to serve the private interests of the oligarchs.
Factionalism has been inherent to the system of government and party rule since the U.S. Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. In fact, the system of governance in the U.S. is informed by the philosophy and political thought known as Covenant Thesis first put forward by Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan, published in April 1651. Hobbes devised a system to ensure the factional fights which had given rise to civil wars at home and foreign wars would end. His theory of the transcendence of the state based on Covenant Thesis was to ensure "one-nation politics," cooperation between the factions, peace, order and good government. But these no longer function because of the clash between the conditions, demanding empowerment of the people, and the authority serving the very few.
Thus, the means devised in the past to prevent civil war at home no longer exist. They are a fiction. As for foreign wars of aggression, the use of force to resolve conflicts has been the new normal since the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the declaration that the U.S. is the "indispensable nation" whose hegemony must be recognized on pain of destruction through regime change and wars of destruction.
While elections were always a means to disempower the people by embroiling them in choosing a party government, they did provide a way for the rulers to have peaceful transitions from one government to the next. Since the last U.S. civil war, elections have helped prevent civil war at home and permitted foreign conflicts to end in negotiations because they were considered to be "politics by other means."
Today, as the debate and campaigns show, there are no politics, thus there are no negotiations and no peace accords. Elections are not only unable to prevent civil wars at home and foreign wars but are actually associated with them. The threat of open violent civil war can be seen in the fact that both candidates repeat that a loss would mean the end of "democracy," and is unacceptable. Presidential debates are also held to determine who will make the best "war president," including repression of the people at home, which is why Biden calls himself a war president.
The train-wreck of a presidential debate shows the factional fights are every day more intense with open gang warfare erupting with no power able to control the situation at home or abroad. It appears evident that Biden cannot hold the union together or control rogue U.S. proxies such as Israel and many others it has held in thrall for decades. U.S. rulers now hope that by replacing him there will be a way out which not only brings the factions together but also suppresses the movement for change which pervades all of life throughout the United States, as it does in France, Britain and all the countries based on Covenant Thesis. The forms of quelling the revolt of the people and regulating the factional interests within the ruling class no longer function. The real challenge facing the rulers is to quell the growing resistance to and rejection of the system and the organized emergence of what the founding fathers called the biggest faction – the one comprised of the propertyless, meaning today the working people.
Part of the concern among the rulers is which of the problems – open violent civil war or keeping the people in line – is more important at this time and how to control both which is not really within their power to achieve. And there are also their arrogant miscalculations concerning control of either. Thus far, since the fall of the Soviet Union at which time the U.S. was supposed to show the superiority of liberal democracy, whatever the U.S. has done, at home and abroad, has been a failure. The U.S. president can exercise no control over international developments, and only the working class and peoples can open a path which achieves their demands for peace, freedom and democracy, which also holds true worldwide.
The World As Is Has No Takers
The World As It Should Be Has Billions of Makers
A dangerous situation exists in the United States because change keeps eluding the people, with elections playing an important role in blocking the people from empowering themselves to govern and decide. This time around, it takes the form of diverting the discussion into who can replace Biden to win over Trump or – what amounts to the same thing – that unless Biden is replaced Trump will win and we need to defeat Trump no matter what. In this way everything is done to make the people believe that change is not possible and there is no alternative. All discussion is to start with the vantage point of the rich, focused on who to vote for; and not on the vantage point of the people, focused on how to advance the struggle for peoples' empowerment.
But change is not only possible, it is the necessity. It can be done by the people basing their actions on their own outlook imbued with necessity for change.
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 41 - July 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54411.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca