This from a Reader ...
All this talk about recounts and "Russian interference" is so wrong. These are not "our" elections. They are elections run by the imperialist ruling class to decide who will be its political representatives in the next period. There is no "popular mandate" and "the people" don't decide anything. To promote this idea is wrong and harmful. It promotes false illusions among the masses just at the time when clarity is so needed. The electoral process is managed by the ruling class through its political representatives and media outlets. They decide what is "legitimate" to discuss and who to choose. They promoted Trump. The purpose of elections is to de-mobilize the masses.
All of this avoids the real question: why does the ruling class need a political representative like Trump at this moment? Even though they know it will provoke a lot of opposition?
No one has interfered with elections around the world more than the US ruling class. They control the process in most of the world. And when they don't get the outcome they want, they organize coups or other ways to sabotage elected governments. Countless examples. To promote the idea that "democracy" equals popular power is to ignore decades and decades of history.
Just look at what Obama is doing now. He is a lame duck so people say now he can do what he really wants. So what is he doing? Going back on the plan to close private prisons. Expanding the global war to Libya and Somalia, and giving Trump even more war powers for the coming years. Turning over to Trump Guantanamo, no restrictions on torture, expanded wars all over the globe. Expanded powers to involve local police in arresting and turning over immigrants to ICE. Lists of who to deport. $1 trillion plan to revamp the nuclear arsenal, etc. etc. ad nauseum. Nothing progressive from the Democrats: the other wing of the imperialist vulture.
All this talk about recounts and "Russian interference" is so wrong. These are not "our" elections. They are elections run by the imperialist ruling class to decide who will be its political representatives in the next period. There is no "popular mandate" and "the people" don't decide anything. To promote this idea is wrong and harmful. It promotes false illusions among the masses just at the time when clarity is so needed. The electoral process is managed by the ruling class through its political representatives and media outlets. They decide what is "legitimate" to discuss and who to choose. They promoted Trump. The purpose of elections is to de-mobilize the masses.
All of this avoids the real question: why does the ruling class need a political representative like Trump at this moment? Even though they know it will provoke a lot of opposition?
No one has interfered with elections around the world more than the US ruling class. They control the process in most of the world. And when they don't get the outcome they want, they organize coups or other ways to sabotage elected governments. Countless examples. To promote the idea that "democracy" equals popular power is to ignore decades and decades of history.
Just look at what Obama is doing now. He is a lame duck so people say now he can do what he really wants. So what is he doing? Going back on the plan to close private prisons. Expanding the global war to Libya and Somalia, and giving Trump even more war powers for the coming years. Turning over to Trump Guantanamo, no restrictions on torture, expanded wars all over the globe. Expanded powers to involve local police in arresting and turning over immigrants to ICE. Lists of who to deport. $1 trillion plan to revamp the nuclear arsenal, etc. etc. ad nauseum. Nothing progressive from the Democrats: the other wing of the imperialist vulture.
Who knows? There is so much false information out there it is often difficult to be sure what to believe. But why don't the Democrats talk about all of the Black people denied voting rights? Or the new laws about voter registration? They clearly don't want to mobilize any mass opposition. Just rely on the system--like recounts. And "give Trump a chance" rhetoric. They don't want to call the system into question either. Just maybe some voting errors. This just supports the legitimacy of the system.
It is easy to blame "Russian hackers." These days they always blame someone that only the government can have any evidence of (like mysterious plots the "security services" foiled), This not only mobilizes people around the reactionary program of the ruling class; it also teaches people to rely on the system and its military/police forces to "protect" them.
So who knows about Russian hackers? But even if there is truth to it, it seems to be a diversion from what's really going on, and a diversion from the very reactionary plans of the ruling class, which is in charge of these elections like all elections. So it seems like a smokescreen. Did Hitler come to power because of some mysterious hackers (whatever the equivalent would have been in that era) or because of the needs of the German ruling class. THAT is the issue.
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