[Marxism] Nader throws support to Edwards

[mlause at cinci.rr.com]

Marvin, like Eli, is missing the point.  That  "progressive liberal Democratic base" just isn't there.  The size of constituency of the Democratic Party, the consciousnessness of the working class in itself, for itself, by itself, etc. have nothing to do with my point, which has to do with the structure of electoral politics in contemporary America.

Two aspects of this...

1. The "base" isn't a singular, coherent thing any more.  There are official union endorswements.  Black, hispanic and women's organizations may make similar endorsements.  They're not necessarily the same and usually aren't.  

To have a common, coherent wing, there needs to be an agenda put forward by the politicials around which that voter sentiment could cohere.  LBJ did that.  FDR did that.  None of the present lot of bozos is doing that.

2. Related t6o this, these voters are just not organized in the real world. By "organized," I mean mobilizing volunteers and establishing a presence in the real world, not cyberspace.  If there's any lesson from attempts to use the internet politically, it's that it's good for fund-raising but has a limited translation into the real world.

People seem to need the concept of a progressive, liberal Democratic base  to fill a polemical role, but I'd suggest that analysis for precision might be more useful.  

Surely a question this important should have implications for us, right?

ML