Elections 2008: Let’s Declare Our independence from the Corporations

As this is being written, the 2008 presidential election is just a few weeks away. The country is sliding deeper into a terrible economic crisis. This will probably be one of the most important elections in the country’s history, yet the process is unfolding as most U.S. presidential elections have – as a contest between two personalities putting forward vague slogans, instead of as a choice between two programs.

The critical question facing us is, how do we resolve the growing crisis in the interest of the people?

Those of us who are struggling for a decent life must ask ourselves, what has held back the process of improving our lives, and what do we need to do to move the process forward? The answer is simple to say, but can be hard to do: We have to stop thinking with the ideas of the corporations that run this country and start thinking for ourselves, as workers. We have to break the ties that bind us politically to the very people who are eliminating our jobs, cutting our wages and benefits, and driving us into poverty. We have to begin thinking in terms of a political program that represents our interests, not the personalities of the candidates.

It’s critical that we see the elections in their historical context. That context is the profound changes in the economy that have occurred over the past 40 years. Computers and robots have been brought into the production process in a big way. More and more production is carried on with little or no labor, and millions of jobs have been permanently eliminated or reduced to part-time, contingency or low-wage jobs. A whole new class of dispossessed people is being created—millions who are cast out of the economy and are struggling to survive on little or no work—while at the other end of society, a tiny class of billionaires and the corporations they control amass huge fortunes.

There is no question but that these labor-replacing technological changes will transform our society; the question is who will control the transformation, and in whose interest will society be changed? In the hands of the workers, the new technology can help us build a society of abundance, free of poverty and fear. In the hands of the corporations, the new technology means more wealth for the few and more unemployment, poverty and fear for the many.

The corporations have been successful over the years in promoting the notion of America as a classless society, where we all have the chance to make it, or even to get rich. But the ongoing destruction of jobs and our standard of living is opening people’s eyes. The workers will begin to see that, no matter how hard they work, their lives and their families are being destroyed through no fault of their own, and neither the corporations nor the government are doing anything about it.

People with a program and a vision of what’s possible can bring about change. In this context, it’s important to note that the Green Party candidates – Cynthia McKinney for president and Rosa Clemente for vice president – are running on a program that consciously deals with the developing economic and political crisis from the standpoint of protecting the interests of the people. Among other things, they have taken an uncompromising stand to end the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan; to defend the human and civil rights of all workers, regardless of nationality; to demand a single-payer health care system that guarantees health care to all; and to defend the rights and living standards of the workers against corporate power. Their program is in line with demands of the dispossessed, which this newspaper represents.

We urge our readers to take an active part in the coming elections on the basis of program rather than personality and vague sloganeering. The key is getting ideas out to people, so the workers can see what kind of society is possible and start thinking for themselves. In the battle for the minds of the people, the elections are a forum where this dialogue about change can go on. We must stand on the demands of the dispossessed, the demands of those who are being stripped of what they have and plunged into poverty. Because they are fighting for life, they cannot compromise, and they are forced to fight for a new society that will serve the needs of the workers. Their struggle will point the way forward for all of us.