Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 23:48:17 -0500 (EST)
From: shmage-AT-pipeline.com (Shane Mage)
Subject: Re: M-I: American Elections


Gary MacLennan wrote:

>could someone please post me the figure on how many actually voted in the
>elections.  It is supposed to be the lowest figure for 70 years.  But the
>media here are very reluctant to emphasize the lack of voter interest.

One day after the elections, the official estimate seems to be about 49% of
the eligible voters, the lowest proportion in 72 years.  Thus a *majority*
of the electorate chose not to participate in the farce.

>It strikes me as odd though that as American democracy (bourgeois ve5rsiion)
>is obviously in terminal decay that the techniques for  getting one's share
>of the vote have become more and more sophisticated.

Everything was done to hold turnout down.  Clinton, in particular, avoided
any issue capable of mobilizing poor and working-class voters--indeed, he
actively discouraged such participation by campaigning as a virtual
Republican.  Add to that the overt conspiracy of the corporate media to
exclude dissenting candidates (essentially Nader and Browne, but also even
Perot) from debates or even campaign coverage.  Add the totally misleading
polls suggesting a 20-point Clinton lead, giving working voters every
excuse to avoid the costly and troublesome task of voting (American
elections are, for that purpose, held on Tuesdays).  What you get is
exactly what the real rulers of the U.S. want--a Republican in Democratic
clothing as president and a "responsible" (non-fanatical) Republican
majority in Congress.  If they were not so laughably impotent, the
"Leftist" (stalinist and other) supporters of Clinton who emitted such
shrieks of horror at the sight of the scarecrow Dole would bear heavy blame
for this result.  Not until the Democratic Party is broken up will there be
even the possibility of a progressive political arena for working-class and
socialist politics.

Shane Mage




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