Issue date: 12/1/04 Section: Opinion

It would behoove American progressives to look carefully at some recent developments in the political world. The outcome of the elections and the Democratic leadership's response to them have proved conclusively that students, working people and other marginalized elements of society cannot rely on that party to make the changes we want to see in America. It is now inescapable that we must, for the sake of our future, break with the Democratic Party and begin to construct a true political opposition that puts the interests of normal people at the top of its agenda.

People across the world are asking themselves "how could Bush win?" The real question, though, is "how could Kerry lose?" Given the nature of their opponent - which has dragged us into an abject quagmire in Iraq, oversaw the transformation of the largest budget surplus in history into the most crippling debt we've ever experienced, presided over a steady rise in poverty and assaulted our civil liberties and the environment with renewed vigor - it should have been a cakewalk for the Democrats.

The answer lays in the absolute political bankruptcy of the Democratic Party. Rather than promote a populist alternative to Bush's reactionary, pro-corporate agenda, the Democrats legitimized it by attacking him from the right and submitting one of their own. John Kerry's determination to escalate and "win" the Iraq war, opposition to full civil equality for homosexuals and support for corporate globalization left working people and progressives with no real choice in the election. Voters had to choose between two candidates that advanced a nearly identical political agenda - and why would anyone take a cheap imitation (Kerry) when they could have the real thing (Bush)?

Many are quick to blame the rise of the Christian right and Bush's bigoted campaign strategy for Kerry's loss. We must remember that only 30% of the eligible American electorate voted for Bush; the Republicans won by a scant 3%; and that 43% of eligible voters - who overwhelmingly represent poor and young people - did not show up on Nov. 2. Had Kerry offered these Americans - many of whom are thoroughly disgusted by the Bush administration's repulsive rule - a solid agenda for social change, this large pool of disenchanted non-voters could have delivered a resounding victory for the Democrats. But it wasn't to be. Instead, Kerry chose to mimic the Republicans by standing against homosexual rights and playing up his religious leanings.

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