(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Cornell West Campaign and Catch-22 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-22 Ralph Nader Folk here at KOS would be wise to think twice before resorting to labeling Cornell West just another Ralph Nader and stomping on him like a snake in the grass. A strategy which may backfire big time. He is a widely respected black activist for more than 50 years, a well known intellectual, left-wing Christian activist, philosopher, progressive, democratic socialist, and rapper among other titles. He has held professorships in many of the nations top universities. I could go on, but the purpose of this article to not to jump on the Cornell West band wagon or promote his campaign. Keep in Mind That . . . . . . the so-called two party system evolved into a means to make sure that the only parties that could ever come to power both supported market driven capitalism and were controlled largely by the wealthy capitalist classes and corporations. The two party system today severely limits democracy. Even though this type of bipartisanship has just about collapsed, third party presidential campaigns are still just as doomed to failure and are much more likely to act as spoilers for one of the two major party candidates. Successful attempts at building progressive parties to a point where they could have more than a token ability to elect their members to office are few and far between. You ask why are they doomed? Presidential campaigns now require billions of dollars and lots of corporate media coverage and paid advertising, the main two reasons. They are not inherently impossible, but must be built up based on lots of grass roots organizing, fund raising and building a new national awareness. Poster for Heller’s classic work. Catch 22 Logic as it applies to WWII Pilots: An airman would have to be crazy to fly more missions, and if he were crazy, he would be unfit to fly. Yet, if an airman were to refuse to fly more missions, this would indicate that he is sane, which would mean that he would be fit to fly the missions. As applies to 3rd Parties in U.S. Elections: A qualifying 3rd Party candidate has no chance to win but is nevertheless able to run in a presidential election. But the better they do, the more likely it means their campaign will serve to elect the candidate they most fear and oppose. The Marginalization of Third Parties The historic marginalization of 3rd or minor political parties has helped lead to the present authoritarian/fascist developments in the Republican Party. One that appears to the many millions of voters in America who are backward, racist, lied to, alienated or ill-informed like a party for “positive” change that can bring back the “good old days of white supremacy, misogyny and Civil War” and break the two party strangle hold on political choices by electing a dictator. And not like what it really amounts to, which is a super corrupt authoritarian version of the same old Republican Party. Catch-22 In Action West presents us with a Catch-22 like situation. The ultimate irony of all this is that running a progressive/reform/left candidate for president actually can accomplish the exact opposite result in a two party dominated system — helping elect a despot like Trump. The Limits of Electoral Politics I find it both sad and depressing that today America’s political realities prevent progressive candidates from having any realistic chances of getting elected president. Before I get accused of advocating for a third party or West’s campaign, what I’m saying helps explain why, to a noticeable degree, both the good and the bad in politics became concentrated in the two dominant and opposing parties in a polarized society. The bad, most evil and corrupt politics reside now in the Republican Party, which for decades was already pandering to the worst in American voters. There are many forward thinking members and politicians in today’s Democratic Party, but they are still mainly held back by the dominance of market capitalist thinking and policy at the top leadership level. Of this there can be little doubt. Party leaders themselves are fond of saying so, including President Biden, who is often falsely called a socialist by the Republicans. He remarked in 2021 that the Republicans swore “That if I got elected, I’d bring the end to capitalism. Six months into my administration, the U.S. economy has experienced the highest economic growth rate in nearly 40 years. It turns out capitalism is alive and very well.” Outside the Box President Biden Biden has, however, been willing to enact some socially responsible reforms outside the political box. Socially beneficial legislation is of course possible under capitalism but limited and constrained in a market driven economy. Like many others at KOS, it appears to me that a third party socialist candidate like West under the current realities has little regard for the potential damage such a campaign could cause if even moderately successful. Allowing a criminal and traitor like Trump to sneak into the White House. I say this as a socialist myself. This is not the time to divert anti-Trump votes. A demented dictator like Trump would order massive acts of revenge arrests and killings and immediately pardon himself for the many crimes he has committed. We need many more people willing to consider taming the capitalist system and understanding the monumental problems it has created before such a campaign could be launched without an opposition party going to the bank resorting some good old fashioned red baiting. It is my belief that one day, perhaps sooner than we think is possible, a battle for a new direction of the Democratic Party will develop. An opposite but parallel development to what happened to the Republican Party. These issues must be fought out within the current political party framework and with lots of independent mass organizing pressure. Mass Movements Have Their Advantages I had the opportunity to meet with Cornell West for lunch discussions on a number of occasions when I worked as subscription manager at Monthly Review Magazine many years ago. His strength was his overpowering moral conscience as was his persuasive rhetoric. But I do not believe he makes a good electoral candidate. Cornell West might have been much more valuable to us had he chosen at some point earlier in his life to play a more hands-on moral leadership role in the mass movement instead of entering electoral politics as a candidate so late in the game. Mass movements typically exert the most political/social influence and change on society when kept independent of the two major parties. Without pressure from such movements, market capitalism is without a moral compass. Something that market capitalism desperately needs imposed upon it. Both Mass Campaigns and Electoral Work are Essential The black and progressive vote are essential to the Democrats. Progressives need to organize the masses and build complimentary movements in addition to electoral work that can more easily target the actual underlying policies and conditions that produce the myriad of institutionalized and historical problems that have led to the twin threats of fascism and global warming. We at KOS and Democratic politicians should be very careful how we act in response to West’s presidential campaign. Insulting or treating him like he’s the devil incarnate would be a grave mistake and only increase his influence among certain progressive voters. The criticism aimed at the potential undesirable results of a third party campaign at this time should be made without malicious intent. Consider for a moment that it’s also an admission that the two party system itself developed in part to contain rather than expand democracy. Democratic Party success depends on getting out the progressive and black vote to win elections. We must also realize that the Electoral College currently gives a huge advantage to the forces of darkness in a national election. Venomous criticism of West will only worsen matters for the Democrats if he ever manages to get on the ballot, which is doubtful. 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