"Bipartisan" or "non-partisan" efforts, like seeking change soley outside of extant political "process", just holds us back. We need more polarization, and complete suppression of counter-revolution, by clear popular democratic mandate.
Anarchy does not mean "anything goes", or chaos. It means real democracy: Self rule, in the social sense (NOT bourgeois ultra-individualism).
Democracy is the most fundamental revolutionary concept. All Power to the People!
The biggest and most dangerous potential setback of an Obama/Biden victory is that many people will either become so disillusioned with the lack of sufficient change and progress that they will just give up on politics, or join the defeatist "radical" cynics now calling for a boycott of the whole process, or will turn to further splitting the vote with a proliferation of third (or fourth, or fifth) party candidates.
You can bet that the Republicans (and Blue Dogs) will do everything in their considerable power to make sure those things happen, in order to maintain their present stranglehold on "American" politics.
The fact is, the more progressive Democratic caucuses in the Congress, and on down the ladders of political power, will remain, for a time, an isolated and relatively powerless minority, for the most part, due to continued low voter turnout and focus, which is the sole reason for Republican and Blue Dog dominance.
It's going to take at least a couple, maybe several, more election cycles to fully repair the damage that has been done by relentless massive commercial media propaganda campaigns and COINTELPRO-style infiltration of movement groups, all aimed at discouraging or defusing voter participation.
Of course, those who go into any "election" thinking that bourgeois liberals are going to deliver revolutionary change are just setting themselves up for burnout.
You have to look at it stategically, and consider an Obama/Biden victory as nothing more than somewhat of a tactical advantage for continuation of the revolutionary struggle for justice and peace, to save the planet.
Right now, progressive Democrats simply do not have sufficient plurality to force thorough investigations and prosecution of the traitors, let alone for impeachment, nor to block right-wing filibusters against the more or less progressive social, economic and environmental changes that we so urgently need, to even survive.
Until progressive Democrats have a super-majority, capable of completely crushing the machiavellian weaseling oppositionalist resistance and sabotage of the Republicans (and Blue Dogs), the political process will remain mired in the swamp of bitter partisan bickering and half-stepping vascillation, over every issue.
The Democrats (read Blue Dogs) continue to focus most of their energy on "winning over" that tiny sliver of the population designated "swing voters", those who are too stupid or unprincipled to make up their minds between a Republican and a Democrat. Like we need more Blue Dogs and "Reagan Democrats" in the Party!
Their rhetoric and programs continue to ignore the real majority in this country, who refuse to even register to vote, or to cast their ballot when they do register (ie: about half or less of the eligible electorate registers, and about half of those actually vote).
As things now stand, with about 25% of the eligible electorate participating, and that vote being pretty much split down the middle, the "winner" receives about a 13% "mandate". If they "win" the direct vote of 14 or 15% of the population, it's called a "landslide".
It's going to take more than traditional pathetic Get Out The Vote efforts, which, at best, have tended to increase turnout by just a few percentage points.
The Right tends to turn out almost all of their hard-core support base, which, at the very most, amounts to somewhere between 10- 20% of the population.
But the other 80-90%, most of whom tend to despise the Right and everything they stand for, are in disarray, with most either boycotting or splitting the vote, and thus the Right prevails.
The truly broad mass of Americans who are allowing this to continue are not stupid, nor are they happy with the status quo. They know when they are being jerked around, and many are, understandably, refusing to participate in an obviously corrupt, bogus, contrived electoral scam.
It's not because the American peoples are too ignorant, venal, degenerate, brainwashed or coerced to be trusted. Contempt for the masses will get you absolutely nowhere.
The problem is that the counter-revolution is very rich, and very strong, and totally unprincipled, and has launched an all-out full court press to attempt to reverse the revolutionary tide of the 60's and 70's, including huge propaganda campaigns and infiltration, aimed at discrediting, discouraging or diffusing electoral participation any way that they can, by hook or by crook.
But absolutist idealism will also get us nowhere. We have to get real, and take what we can get, while we press forward on every front, to convince people that now is the time to call off the boycott, and to stop splitting the vote, and to really begin working to actually seize power in this country, which must start with purging the Republicans (and Blue Dogs) from all levers of power, at every level, including locally.
While that will not be the ultimate solution, it is the next step.
Hitler, Nixon, Reagan. Gingrich and Bush, et al, did not prove to be "good for the revolution", in terms of provoking more determined mass struggle. They relentlessly and viciously suppressed all opposition, and set back the struggle for years to come, in each and every instance, and millions died, as a direct result.
The only reason any of them prevailed was because the Left refused to unite, even tactically, to "support" those liberal bourgeois elements who actually had a material prospect of blocking the worst fascists from power.
In each case, the Left chose instead to wallow in unrealistic absolutist idealism and sectarian struggles for hegemony, calling for electoral boycott, or advocating splitting the vote with guaranteed losers.
Turning this around is not going to happen overnight, but it can happen pretty fast, if enough people begin demanding genuine democracy, for real, and quit merely moaning and groaning about the profound lack thereof, and the symptomatic consequences of that lack.
Democracy is the most fundamental revolutionary concept, and we have to start demanding it, in rhetoric and practice.
It's the only real solution, and needs to be a much more explicit and integral point of address, in addressing the laundry list of various urgent pressing issues that we organize around.
A broad, massive popular democratic mandate is the only legitimate material basis for revolution, anywhere. The counter-revolution must be suppressed, democratically.
You have to start somewhere...and as the link below shows, we have come a long way, in the last 30 years.
We have, indeed, won over the hearts and minds of a substantial majority in this country, who now consider it to be "politically incorrect" to be a racist, sexist, eco-raping corporate ripoff imperialist pig.
In case you haven't noticed, the right has been screaming bloody murder about that, for years now! And they are getting more and more hysterical and draconian in their reaction to this unavoidable reality, which has continued to grow, in spite of everything they have done to try to reverse, discredit, or co-opt it.
Futile gestures of protest and defiance are...futile. We must seize the power, and that is going to take more than some Blue Dog "savior", or just a few more progressives to give us "some representation" or "a voice".
We need a progressive super-majority in both houses of Congress, and on down the ladders of power nationwide, including locally, and we're going to have to work our asses off, to accomplish that.
Again I say, while that is not the ultimate solution to all our problems and issues, it is the next step.
Expect the extreme right to really come out of the woodwork with an Obama/Biden victory, just like they did under Carter and Clinton. They recognize that even the pretense of a move toward genuine democracy will ultimately, eventually, spell death to capitalism, and it's moribund form, fascism.
Aryan Nations, et al will once again be running amok, calling for civil war "against the government and the left", with hate radio and Faux news "pundits" egging them on. It has already begun.
It could get very ugly. Look around you, and choose your allies carefully. Those "radicals" who sound just like the extreme right, demonizing the Democrats and everyone else on the left, slagging the unions, liberals, and progressives indiscriminately for not being "revolutionary" enough...those are the COINTELPRO dupes, and outright undercover pigs, seeking to suppress and diffuse electoral participation...which serves only to benefit the Republicans, and fascism.
The "lesser evil" is, in fact, somewhat, more or less, "better" than the greater evil, in terms of how many more millions will have to die from a much greater lack of social services, justice and peace, at home, and abroad, even as we continue the revolutionary struggle.
What good are "revolutionary principles" that hand over power to the worst available fascists, and thus condemn millions more to die horrible deaths, just because the material alternatives are somewhat less than ideal?
Tactically "supporting" bourgeois liberals (like a rope supports a hanging man), in order to block the worst fascists from power, is not necessarily a sell-out.
This need not be about any huge diversion of movement resources, nor about jumping on the bourgeois electoral bandwagon like naive fools.
It's a simple matter of merely making some slight adjustments in line and political education, to call off the electoral boycott and discourage vote splitting, in order to give the Democrats a super-majority and purge the Republicans (and Blue Dogs) from all reins of power, tactically, while we continue to organize for genuine democracy, as the only real solution to (whatever your pet issues may be).
It's about cutting people a little slack, for survival, while we continue the struggle for justice and peace, to save the planet.
Take a deep look at the following, for some encouraging food for thought:
http://mediamatters.org/...