June 12 , 2000


Poverty in America:

Turning the Tables
BY NEIL DEMAUSE
Welfare reform face a time limit of its own.

Allied Forces
BY TED KLEINE
The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support

Poverty in a Gilded Age
BY ANNETTE FUENTES
An interview with Frances Fox Piven.

Out of Sight
BY KARI LYDERSEN
In many cities, being homeless is against the law.

Leave the Kids Alone
BY MIKE MALES
Poverty is the real problem

The Union Difference
BY DAVID MOBERG

Down and Out on Polk Street
PHOTOGRAPHS BY KEVIN WEINSTEIN


Other Features:

Star Wars: Episode Two
BYJEFFERY ST. CLAIR
The Pentagon's latest missile defense fantasy.

"This Is Not Life. This Is Prison"
BY RICHARD MERTENS
Kosovo one year after the NATO bombing.

Bosnian Serbs Still Look to Belgrade
BY PAUL HOCKENOS


News & Views

Editorial
BY JOEL BLEIFUSS
Memo to third parties: Face Reality.

Appall-O-Meter
BY DAVID FUTRELLE

A Terry Laban Cartoon

Marching On
BY DAVE LINDORFF
Unity 2000 plans to disrupt this summer's GOP convention

The Other Side of the Street
BY KIM PHILLIPS-FEIN
Food workers target Goldman Sachs

Going to Waste
BY ERIC WELTMAN
Health Care Without Harm cleans up toxic hospitals

Profile
BY KARI LYDERSEN
Flour Power

Forgotten America
BY Juan Gonzalez
Bombs Away


Culture

Ancient Daze
BY JOSHUA ROTHKOPF
FILM: Ridley Scott's Gladiator

A Class by Itself
BY BILL BOISVERT
BOOKS: David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise

A Different Point of View
BY PAT AUFDERHEIDE
TV: P.O.V. on PBS

 
Face Reality

By Joel Bleifuss

Supporters of third parties have filed a suit against the Federal Election Commission, charging that it has permitted a partisan group to ban third - party candidates from this fall's presidential debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates has decided only candidates who garner 15 percent support in five national polls can participate.

The suit asks a New York federal court to issue an injunction to stop the three debates from taking place. The plaintiffs charge that the debate commission, a group composed entirely of Democrats and Republicans, has written presidential debate regulations to suit their own interests. Ralph Nader has promised to make inclusion in the debates one of his key campaign issues.

Hello? It's called a two - party system for a reason. Somehow that fact never sinks in. Remember 1980? That year Barry Commoner formed the Citizens Party, galvanizing those disenchanted with Carter's conservatism in a noble run for the presidency. But the only time the national press noticed his campaign was when the word "bullshit" was used in a radio commercial.

In These Times editorialized back in 1980: "Both in theory and as a practical matter, the primary emphasis on presidential politics is a dead end. ... As a matter of practical politics, the only hope the left has of electing progressives to office is on the scale of a legislative election, either to state legislatures, city councils or Congress. ... The road to power - - and, in the short run, to popular agitation around progressive principles - - lies first through the legislature."

In 1980 it was Commoner, in 2000 it is Nader, a man who has devoted his life to exposing the perfidious influence of corporate power. But if Nader were serious about running for president, he would have begun laying the groundwork for a 2000 presidential bid in 1996. And a first step would have been helping the Green Party get its act together. (Except for in a handful of states like New Mexico and California, the party doesn't exist as such.)

If Nader were serious about influencing the national discourse, he would have run in the Democratic primary, where progressive candidates have an opportunity to present ideas that normally don't get a public hearing. By debating Al Gore and Bill Bradley, Nader could have reached an audience of millions. This year, more than any other, we needed a challenge to the somnambulant corporate centrism of Gore and Bradley. Absent a third party that is well organized from the grassroots up, progressives must stay focused on putting pressure on those Democrats who claim to represent them, something a Nader run for the Democratic nomination would have done admirably.

Since Nader and the progressives who support him have neither built a third party nor challenged the Democratic establishment, one must conclude that candidate Nader fulfills another role - - that of civil confessor. Citizens disgusted with the status quo can leave a voting booth with their integrity reaffirmed.

Their message is clear: We are not serious about political change. For too many on the left, electoral politics has devolved from civic participation into a lifestyle choice. One eats organic food to stay healthy, exercises to stay fit, and votes for Nader to avoid tainting principles with the give - and - take of real politics.

But let's not blame the victim. Like the poor, those progressives disengaged from party politics are understandably alienated. The current campaign finance system functions as a form of legalized bribery that allows the rich and powerful to pick and choose who gets elected. The Democratic Party, increasingly in thrall to corporate interests, has seen its popular base whither.

There are exceptions: In states like Minnesota and Vermont and in congressional districts like those around the Bay Area, the progressive movement is part and parcel of the political establishment. Those are the models to emulate if we want to move beyond the current quadrennial exercise of hitching our wagon to the latest progressive star.

Joel Bleifuss is the editor of In These Times.

 


In These Times © 2000
Vol. 24, No. 14

 

 

Election 2000 Coverage


Never Mind the Bollocks
BY BILL BOISVERT

Here's the new Republican Party
September 4 , 2000


The Battle of Philadelphia
BY DAVE LINDORFF

September 4 , 2000


Working It
BY DAVID MOBERG
Will unions go all out for Gore?

September 4 , 2000


Editorial
BY DAVID MOBERG
Big money problems.
September 4 , 2000


Cleaning Up
BY HANS JOHNSON
Missouri, Oregon consider campaign finance initiatives

September 4 , 2000


Why I'm Voting for Nader ...
BY ROBERT McCHESNEY
August 21, 2000


... And Why I'm Not
BY JAMES WEINSTEIN
August 21, 2000


Dumped
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
August 7, 2000
Bush's dirty politics turn an Texas town into a sewer.


An Environmental President
BY GUY SAPERSTEIN
August 7, 2000


Three's Company
BY JOHN NICHOLS
July 10, 2000
Third parties strategize for the November elections.


Editorial
BY JOEL BLEIFUSS
June 12, 2000
Memo to third parties: Face Reality.


Marching On
BY DAVE LINDORFF
June 12, 2000
Unity 2000 plans to disrupt this summer's GOP convention



Party Palace
BY NATHANIEL HELLER
May 1, 2000
George W. Bush's lucrative sleepovers


Stupid Tuesday
BY HANS JOHNSON
April 17, 2000
After Super Tuesday, progressives mull over missed opportunities


What Women Want
BY DAVID MOBERG
April 17, 2000
Working women's votes could seal Al Gore's fate. But is he listening to them?


David vs. Goliath
BY KARI LYDERSEN
April 17, 2000
Socialist presidential candidate David McReynolds


How to Deal with Gore
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR and LOIS GIBBS
April 17, 2000
Love him or leave him?


Ralph Really Runs
BY DOUG IRELAND
April 3, 2000
Nader kicks off his second bid for president


Editorial
March 20, 2000
Flub watch.


On the Fence
BY MATTHEW KNOESTER
March 20, 2000
Human rights or big oil for Al Gore?


The First Stone
BY JOEL BLEIFUSS
March 6, 2000
Vanishing voters.


Gush vs. Bore
BY DOUG IRELAND
March 6, 2000


Free Ride
BY PAT MURPHY
March 6, 2000
Meet the real John McCain.


Cash and Carry
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
March 6, 2000
George W. Bush's environmental menace.


Fair Weather Friends
BY JUAN GONZALEZ
March 6, 2000
Candidates court the Latino vote.


More Marketplace Medicine
BY DAVID MOBERG
March 6, 2000
Neither Democrats' health plan will fix the system.


New Labor, Old Politics
BY DAVID MOBERG
November 14, 1999


Bradley Courts the Black Vote
BY SALIM MUWAKKIL
October 31, 1999


Changing Primary Colors
BY DAVID DYSSEGAARD KALLICK
June 13, 1999


The Great Right Hope
BY RUSSELL CONTRERAS
Who is George W. Bush?
May 30, 1999


Money Money Money!
BY NEIL SWANSON
Al Gore and Bill Bradley go one-on-one.
May 30, 1999