[R-G] Rick Wilhelm on John Kerry

[Connexions]

>
>"the abolitionist movement, which (though unpopular) caused so much fuss 
>that it provoked the founding of the Republican Party _and_ scared the 
>slavedrivers shitless, so when Lincoln was elected the South stupidly 
>rebelled. It was one of the more successful "independent movements" in the 
>history of the world."

The Come-outters came out of electionering but they couldn't come out of 
the system without refusing to breathe. So they worked in the Liberty party 
and the Free Soil party and then the Republican Party. Brown's raid and 
Lincoln's election provoked the last attempt at independence from the system.


>"Our (non-electoral) movements of the 50s/60s (civil rights and anti-war 
>movement) were pretty successful too. We broke Jim Crow. We innaugurated 
>the gay/lesbian movement. We were
>responsible for making Nixon the most liberal president of the second half 
>of the 20th century -- not because we elected him or he was a good guy but 
>because we scared him shitless. "

Nixon was every bit as liberal as Hindenburg.

>"We almost got the Equal Rights Amendment through, but we were losing 
>force by that time and falling into the error that CJ seems to have fallen 
>for: instead of continuing to raise hell, the forces behind that drive 
>turned to electoral politics and lobbying."

The GOP came even closer to an amendment overturning the one man=one vote 
ruling.


>"Just how successful we were can be measured by the frantic efforts of the 
>media & both the DP & the RP ever since to minimize what we accomplished."

I haven't seen any frantic efforts by the real parties or the microparties 
to do anything other than get themselves elected.


>"There has never been any major reform gotten in the U.S. _except_ as the 
>result of large NON-electoral actions."

Of course not, but "actions" and "elections" either separately or together 
don't add up to fundamental change.


>"Oh yes. And  in November of 1969 we may have saved the world. The Nixon 
>Administration had about decided to use nuclear weapons against Chinese 
>installations in North Vietnam. The  size and militancy of the November 
>Moratorium caused them to change their mind."

Perhaps- I always assumed Nixon didn't use the Bomb because he was liberal, 
but  I haven't read the histories. The November Moratorium was supposed to 
reoccur in December and January and and it was supposed to grow and grow 
month by month. Instead it shrivelled into "tens of dozens" as the 
Washington police chief observed.


CJ