THE MISSING POLITICAL INGREDIENT
By Jack A. Smith
Hudson Valley (NY) Activist Newsletter 2-26-7

The nations of the world are confronted with the probability that there will be a horrendous major war and an environmental catastrophe at some point in this century, perhaps sooner than later, perhaps in combination.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recognized this possibility by announcing Jan. 18 that hands of its “Doomsday Clock” have moved two minutes forward to 11:55 p.m. The Bulletin has featured the clock as part of its front cover since 1947. When the clock hands reach midnight they will indicate that in the opinion of America’s atomic scientists, a nuclear war is about to destroy the world.

This year, for the first time, the Bulletin — supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the U.S. and the Royal Society in the UK — focused on two major sources of catastrophe, not just one: “The perils of 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 of them ready to launch within minutes; and the destruction of human habitats from climate change.”

In a statement accompanying the announcement, the Bulletin declared: "We stand at the brink of a Second Nuclear Age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices.… The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause irremediable harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival." (See excerpts from this statement in article number 11 in part 2.)

Given the level of America’s unprecedented military strength on land, sea, air and outer space, combined with Washington’s intention to project armed power to maintain its status as the world’s dominant and controlling state, it is likely there will be serious conflicts in future years unless significant political changes take place in the United States relatively soon.

In terms of the environment, even if the backward policies of the Bush Administration are replaced by a more enlightened Democratic administration, it is doubtful any such government will be ready to force America’s corporate and financial interests to make the immediate economic decisions required to lead the world in creating the ecological transformation required to save the planet.

What can be done to correct the course of a government seemingly headed toward global calamity? We do not pretend to have a full answer, but two things are obvious:

1. There has to be a fundamental change in U.S. politics. 2. As long as the United States continues to be governed by two ruling parties dedicated to the political center, center-right, right, and far right, as has been the case for many years to the total exclusion of the left, nothing will change.

At the minimum, we need a left in this country — a viable political left that has some chance of affecting national policy, such as exists in virtually all other advanced, industrialized capitalist societies.

This does not mean there is no U.S. left today, including the far left. It not only exists but plays a vital role in most of the mass movements for peace, justice, equality, and social change, though not always openly because of the conservative, jingoist era in which they function and the possibility of government repression.

However, after nearly a century of continuous government propaganda against progressivism, socialism, and communism, accentuated by the mass media’s hostility to any political manifestation to the left of liberalism, the left — even the moderates of the social democratic left — has been marginalized in terms of mass national political parties. And this is a big part of the problem in terms of new wars and environmental catastrophe.

Liberalism itself is thoroughly marginalized as well, powerless within what has become in recent decades the center/center-right Democratic Party, with little prospect of being revived. The left branch of liberalism, the Greens, made efforts to influence national politics by running Ralph Nader for president in 1996 and 2000 and got nothing but grief from most liberals and all Democrats content with lesser-evil politics. Even in 2004, when the Greens in effect capitulated as an independent third political force and conducted a half-hearted campaign of refusing to engage in contests where they might cause a Democrat to lose, the liberals tried to run them out of town.

What’s needed now for starters is an independent and sustainable broad third party composed of as many progressive and left forces as possible, plus advanced sectors of the labor movement, minorities and the poor. This would take years to build, but the interjection of a viable, progressive third alternative could begin to move American politics in a left direction.

At the least a political entity of this type would give strength to our struggles for peace, justice and social change. At the least such a left would argue for sharply cutting the Pentagon’s “defense” budget, spending the money instead for jobs, education, and healthcare. At the least a broad left would fight to change the direction of U.S. foreign policy away from hegemony, militarism and imperialism. At the least a substantial left presence would take significant steps to lead the world with America’s enormous power in countering global warming and an environmental crisis of magnitude.

If we intend to wait over the next crucial decades for one of the two ruling party’s presidential candidates to lead the American government toward genuine policies of peace, justice and equality at home and abroad, we might as well keep Waiting for Godot until the end of time.

Godot’s not ever coming, either in Beckett’s masterpiece or in a two-party electoral system that excludes the left. So it’s time to pull down the curtain on this frustrating drama of endless waiting and exit stage left to construct a broad third political entity giving voice in national politics to a genuinely progressive/left agenda focused on bringing about world peace, reversing environmental deterioration, and to implementing policies to benefit our world and all its peoples.