Bulletin N°465

 

Subject : ON THE MID-TERM US ELECTION RESULTS.

3 November 2010
Grenoble, France
 

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
Below are three Internet links to the US mid-term election results.

Item A. is Ralph Nader's evaluation of "what is to be done" and why --November 2010.

Item B. is a picture of Corporate American Democracy as it unfolds today across North America, affecting the entire planet.

Item C. is a commentary by New York City New School economist Professor Richard Wolff on the political significance of the US election results, November 2010.

And we close this special elections bulletin from CEIMSA with the memorable quote from the famous IWW labor organizer Joe Hill:

Don't Mourn ­ Organize!


Sincerely,
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies
Director of Research
Université Stendhal Grenoble 3
http://www.ceimsa.org/


A.

Ralph Nader: Dems Face Losses to "Most Craven Republican Party in History"

With total campaign spending projected to hit $4 billion, the 2010 election is on track to be the most expensive non-presidential contest in US history. For analysis of the 2010 midterms, we speak to former presidential candidate and longtime consumer advocate and corporate critic, Ralph Nader.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/2/ralph_nader_dems_face_losses_to


B.
The Republican Party swept to power in the House yesterday, winning at least 54 seats. At present the score is 234 for the Republicans and 180 for the Democrats, with 21 seats, mostly in the West, still not counted. By any measure, the country is going through a difficult period, this being the third straight wave election in a row. With 2012 being a presidential year, which generally favors the incumbent party, 2012 could be the fourth wave in a row, putting Democrats back in power again, especially if the newly elected Republicans are unable to produce results. All the polls have shown that while the voters are angry with the Democrats, they have even less faith in the Republicans.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/

C.
Dear Francis,
Apropos our elections: In a society that rigidly keeps only two parties (by focusing all financial support on them, by limiting media attention to them, etc.), the only way for people to even begin to express political opposition is to vote against those deemed responsible. Thus the voters punished Republicans in 2008, Democrats in 2010, and ?? in 2012. Note also the even more crucial limitation: while exit polls show that the economic crisis trumped all other issues on voters' minds, and above all unemployment and foreclosures, Americans manage not to express rage against employers and banks - the actual institutions that fire people and foreclose homes. Instead they vote against politicians who lack the power or the will to interfere in what those corporations and banks do.
Rick
http://www.rdwolff.com/