The Democratic
Convention and the Agenda of U.S. Imperialism
The U.S.
Democratic Party held its national convention last week and nominated John
Kerry to run for president against George W. Bush. The bulk of Kerry’s
acceptance speech was devoted to presenting himself as a better war president
than Bush. The speech was full of references to Kerry having served in Vietnam,
where he was wounded several times and received a number of medals, as opposed
to Bush who sat out the war in the Texas National Guard. According to Kerry,
this experience makes him more capable of leading the U.S.
“war on terror” and completing the mission in Iraq.
Among Kerry’s
promises to the delegates were pledges to expand the military and increase its
technological capabilities, and to send enough troops to Iraq
to “finish the job”. At the same time, he pledged to improve relations with Europe
and bring more countries into the “war on terror”. In other words, Kerry
promised to do a better job of implementing the Bush agenda than Bush can do
himself.
The lack of
difference between the Democrats and Republicans is not a new phenomenon in
American politics. In fact, it is the essence of the U.S.
two-party system. When the governing party becomes discredited in the eyes of
the electorate, the other party is waiting in the wings to take over and
implement the same imperialist agenda. What is new in this election campaign is
that the Democrats have abandoned any pretence of having a different agenda.
They are parasitizing on the anti-war, anti-Bush
sentiment of a growing section of the American population and the “anyone but
Bush” campaign being run by some sections of the anti-war movement.To these people, the Democrats are saying
that if they want Bush out they have no option but to vote for Kerry. At the
same time, they are assuring “soft” Bush supporters and the vast U.S.
military-industrial complex that they will not only continue to implement the
Bush agenda and do a better job at it, but they will go even further and
escalate the Bush “war on terror” and occupation of Iraq.
What Kerry is
not saying is how he intends to overcome the very real obstacles encountered by
the Bush administration. These obstacles include significant opposition to the
occupation of Iraq
at home and overwhelming opposition abroad, as well as a general reluctance on
the part of the European imperialists to assist the U.S.
to strengthen its empire at the expense of Europe. Kerry
is suggesting that his war experience will assist him in choosing the “right” wars
to wage and enable him to understand the needs of the soldiers for bigger and
better weapons and more troops on the ground.
However, the
European imperialists have not survived this long by being stupid. They
understand the “good cop, bad cop” routine played by the U.S.
and it is unlikely that they will participate in current or future U.S.
adventures unless they can extort significant concessions out of the U.S.
imperialists.
In terms of
military expenditures, the Bush administration attempted to conduct the
invasion and occupation of Iraq
on the cheap because the U.S.
state is essentially bankrupt and it knew that it could not expect its allies
to foot the bill as they did in the first Gulf War. Furthermore, the U.S.
military is facing a serious manpower crisis as both enrolment and re-enrolment
fall rapidly, despite a massive recruitment drive launched after the September 11, 2001 attack. This, coupled with the fact that the U.S.
has troops stationed in over half of the countries in the world, means that the
only way that Kerry can keep his promise of increasing the number of troops in Iraq
is by implementing the military draft. This would not be a popular move amongst
Americans and would be certain to swell the anti-war movement to unprecedented
levels.
For the past
several years, it has been clear that there is no real disagreement between the
Democrats and Republicans about what agenda to follow. The Democrats voted
almost unanimously in support of the invasions of both Afghanistan
and Iraq, as
well as for the Patriot Act. Their only difference with the Bush administration
has been on its ineffectiveness in implementing that agenda and its uncanny knack
for turning friends into enemies. Kerry’s speech at the Democratic Convention
underlines this fact and demolishes the myth created by various sections of the
American Left that U.S.
imperialism is split into progressive and reactionary wings represented by the
Democrats and Republicans respectively.