Under the less than inspiring implicit slogan of \u201cYou\u2019re Stuck with Biden,\u201d the Democratic Party has foregone presidential primary debates this election season. Not even bothering with the pretense of democratic people\u2019s choice, naked bourgeois rule is offered to their captured constituencies.<\/p>\n
Joe Biden\u2019s approval rating<\/a> has sunk to a dismal 40.5%. USA Today<\/em> asks<\/a>: \u201cHow can Donald Trump – a twice-impeached, four-times indicted former president\u2026 \u2013 be tied, or even leading, Joe Biden in the 2024 election?\u201d<\/p>\n Progressive Democrats \u2013 an oxymoron \u2013 are alarmed. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, unconditionally endorsed a Biden rerun even before Joe announced; a raw demonstration that there is not even a glimmer of a progressive agenda in the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n Fellow putative progressive Jim McGovern explained that offering the voters a progressive alternative<\/a> was verboten because \u201cthe stakes are too high this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Call out the attack dogs<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can\u2019t practice internal democracy or offer an appealing candidate who speaks to the issues concerning the electorate, the course of action for the party faithful is a no-brainer \u2013 call out the attack dogs! Target anyone with the temerity to even raise the possibility of an alternative to the two-parties\u2019 shared agenda of austerity for working people, ever more aggressive imperialism, and planetary global warming.<\/p>\n Washington bureau chief for the once progressive Mother Jones, <\/em>David Corn, got the memo. He smeared<\/a> independent candidate Dr. Cornel West for not being a Democratic Party sycophant.<\/p>\n Corn reports that West \u201chobnobs\u201d with people who are not vitriolically opposed to China and instead espouse international peace. Otherwise, the article in MoJo <\/em>(as the cool people at the publication call themselves) has nothing but bad things to say about West.<\/p>\n Actually, failing to be a Sinophobe is itself a major demerit for Corn. As an equal opportunity xenophobe against official enemies of the US state, Corn has made a professional career peddling the Russiagate conspiracy. Much to his embarrassment, Corn was a major promoter of the discredited<\/a> Steele dossier, for which even the Washington Post<\/em> ridiculed<\/a> Corn\u2019s journalistic malpractice.<\/p>\n Guilt by association<\/strong><\/p>\n Corn\u2019s hatchet job criticizes West, but he can\u2019t find much to disparage about the esteemed academic and activist. So the ace reporter resorts to guilt by association. West, he argues, must be \u201cjudged by those who share the platform\u201d with him.<\/p>\n West appeared on an October 3 forum with the likes of Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink<\/a>. The feminist grassroots organization works to end US wars and militarism. Corn hastens to add that her organization was \u201cthe subject of a recent New York Times<\/em> investigation<\/a>,\u201d which uncovered the unamazing scoop that some on the left have benefactors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Worse yet, the forum also featured comedian and \u201cfar-left\u201d podcaster Lee Camp who harbors resentment for the US \u201cwar machine.\u201d<\/p>\n But that was not the end of it. West dared to share the stage with Eugene Puryear, a member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation<\/a> which favors the \u201crevolutionary overthrow of capitalism.\u201d The accusation is repeated a second time in the short piece just in case you weren\u2019t horrified the first time.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Premature Peacenik<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Besides the indiscretion of hobnobbing with undesirables, the transgression that most rankled Corn was Dr. West\u2019s recognition that the war in Ukraine was provoked<\/a> by the US and its allies before<\/em> the head of NATO<\/a> made a similar observation.<\/p>\n The \u201chail Ukraine\u201d crowd, led by Mr. Biden, are now telling us the Ukraine War was a brilliant strategy to weaken Russia on the cheap, and that it is a bargain to shovel billions more of tax payer dollars to prolong the carnage. But somehow Corn takes umbrage when West suggests the US had some hand in precipitating the debacle.<\/p>\n We are living in times when Rep. Margorie Taylor Greene, a person considered far right by liberals, poses for selfies with peaceniks who Corn now scorns. MTG tweeted<\/a>: \u201cToday, I met brave @codepink activists who protested for peace\u2026We don\u2019t agree on most things, but we do agree Congress should STOP fueling the war in Ukraine!\u201d<\/p>\n When liberal Democrats find themselves to the right of the likes of Henry Kissinger<\/a> on matters of war and peace, one needs a score card to know which half of the two-party duopoly is the lesser evil. Liberals who opposed the border wall, deportations of immigrants, aggressive militarism, continuing student debt, promoting oil drilling, and escalating defense budgets when these were Trump policies are happily sucking up when Biden continued and even upped the same measures. West is trying to provide a counterpoint.<\/p>\n West goes independent<\/strong><\/p>\n Corn sloppily claimed that West is the \u201cGreen Party presidential candidate.\u201d West had announced he would run for the Green Party nomination along with a number of other contenders. But the Green Party selection will not be made until 2024.<\/p>\n In any case, West has since announced that he will be running as an independent<\/a>. As such, West will not enjoy the Green\u2019s advantage of ballot status in around 18 states. West hopes to get on the ballot<\/a> on 35 to 40 states, rejecting the argument that leaving the Greens would make him less challenging to the Democrats.<\/p>\n West\u2019s departure is unfortunate for the Greens. Had he captured the nomination and run as a Green, his celebrity could have bolstered the party by attracting more registrations. Increasing voter dissatisfaction<\/a> with the two major capitalist parties has not translated into resurgent third parties at a time when alternatives are ever more needed.<\/p>\n As an independent, West will no longer have the stabilizing bookends of an established party to provide feedback and policy guidance. Vanity and individualism are harder to correct when a candidate is accountable to himself only.<\/p>\n Finally, an independent West will not have to contend with the bureaucracy and internal politics of the Greens. More difficult, however, will be fighting for ballot status against major party-controlled electoral authorities. As Ralph Nader discovered, Democrats were willing to go to unprincipled lengths<\/a> to keep him off the ballot, cheating and even going to jail.<\/p>\n Cornel West\u2019s platform<\/strong><\/p>\n The Democrats are marching lock-step on a \u201cBiden\u2019s not Trump\u201d platform, so shut up.<\/p>\n West\u2019s platform<\/a> is arguably one that is closer to the sentiments of the voters. Some 65% Democrats, 40% independents, and even 10% Republicans support socialism<\/a> in some form. Agreeing with West, 55% of the electorate oppose<\/a> additional funding for Ukraine. In contrast, an unprecedented unanimity of House and Senate Democrats support war funding.<\/p>\n