Monday, November 05, 2012

And Then There Was One ...

Day until the election that is. Obama appears to be holding onto a small margin, particularly in the key swing states that will decide this election. The Senate is also up for grabs, a number of important propositions are on ballots and local, state and Congressional races still hang in the balance. Potential trouble is brewing in Ohio, where charges of irregularities in a late voting software update have led progressive to worry that another Florida 2000 could be around the corner. And a recent article claims $6 billion has been spent on the election, facilitate by the Citizens decision. What should we think as we await the results of another close election? One is that our democracy is clearly broken. Partisanship has become endemic, conservatives have again put social issues at the forefront of an election (even as the economy remains mired in trouble), many people continue to vote against their interests while as many as 40 percent probably won't vote at all. Republicans are again engaged in major attempts to suppress the vote -- though this is understandable as it is probably the only way they can win the election. Long term trends clearly indicate a shift back to Democrats, as Latinos and other minorities continue to outreproduce whites at dramatic rates, but a clear question that emerges is what will the Democratic party look like by then. 

Thomas Frank has asked this question with increasing consternation in recent years, and he has a point. The Clinton model, which Obama originally seemed to upset, has again taken hold of the party and disallowed the sort of radical change we now need. Instead both parties are encumbered by the same interests and merely depart on the magnitude of government retrenchment. Social issues remain a key battleground, but they are secondary to the increasingly dire economic status of the country and most of its citizens. As all this occurs, Republicans continue to tell us that "more of the same" will somehow finally reap benefits while the billionaires cry that nobody loves them. It seems like the plot for a dystopian Orwellian novel and yet it is where we stand today. A victory by Obama will at least stem the tide of our rightward turn, but it is a weak salve at best. Let's hope for that twinkle of hope tomorrow.

 

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