Reply #17: Blaming the Victims of the 2004 Election

[dzika]

December 27, 2004

Power Concedes Nothing Without Demands
Blaming the Victims of the 2004 Election
By BRIAN KWOBA

I hate to keep wading around in the drudgery of election-year fallout, but I've heard too much elitist cynicism and scapegoating of a supposedly dumb-and-dumber American population to keep quiet. In much of the post-election commentary, the left along with much of the rest of the world has predictably cited a stupid, ignorant, or incurably right-wing US electorate as the reason for Bush's recent win. The cynicism arises from interpreting the wide margin of victory in the popular vote as ratification of Bush's unilateral rapacity in Iraq and Afghanistan, decisive complicity in the Haitian coup, and his menacing attacks on the minimal civil liberties, education, social security, and healthcare systems at home. All of this is certainly daunting and immensely unwelcome, to say the least. But the blame for Bush's second coming should not be placed on the "American public." For those of us who truly seek change, there is a more complicated story. And that story is rife with lessons that are absolutely critical for the future of our movement.

Link:
http://www.counterpunch.org/kwoba12272004.html