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Title and the noose of American elections

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Journal Economic and Political Weekly, 50(43)

ISSN 0012-9976

Author Lal, V

Publication Date 2015

Peer reviewed

eScholarship.org Powered by the Digital Library University of California COMMENTARY

wilderness, 1971–80, is associated with Bernie Sanders and the Noose his candidacy for state offi ces as a mem- ber of the Liberty Union Party, which of American Elections grew out of the anti-war, student, and popular movements of the 1960s. In his outlook towards third parties, Sanders Vinay Lal may have been chastened by his early political failures; when he did fi nally Bernie Sanders, who aims at n the early 1960s, a young Jewish win offi ce, he did so as an independent being the Democratic Party’s man from Brooklyn, , by and by defeating a six-term Democratic the name of Bernard Sanders, whose incumbent. Sanders’ term as mayor of nominee for the President of the I father was the sole member of his family Burlington, in retrospect, anticipates his US , has earned an unexpected to escape the Holocaust, enrolled as ability over the decades to work within a following with his staunch an undergraduate at the University of capitalist framework and yet visibly lend critique of the super-rich and his Chicago. His political awareness would his support to anti-establishment posi- at once be sharpened at that storied tions. In Burlington, Sanders, much to promise to reduce glaring class institution, where the student chapter of the surprise of many critics and com- inequalities. But his foreign policy the National Association for the Advance- mentators who did not expect him to offers no fundamental departures ment of Colored People was just reorgani- last beyond the initial two-year term, from the received view. Moreover, sing itself as a chapter of the more militant successfully courted businesses and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The engaged in ambitious programmes to his ascendancy signifi es yet Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com- revitalise the downtown district; but, again the impossibility of a third mittee (SNCC), which had been estab- rather unusually for the mayor of an space in American politics which lished in 1960, was similarly pushing American town, Sanders also visited has forever oscillated between American civil rights leaders into adopting Cuba and the Soviet Union. more militant positions. Sanders plunged Sanders’ years as the mayor of Burl- Tweedledum and Tweedledee. into this political ferment, assuming a ington, , thus furnish in many position as chairman of CORE’s social respects the template for cues to his sub- action committee and committing him- sequent political career, pointing both to self to a struggle to integrate student an uncanny will to political survival and housing at the university (Perlstein advancement and the limitations that 2015). Sanders led the fi rst sit-in at the will almost certainly put a brake on his university in 1962 and, the following ambition to win the White House. Ver- year, joined the “March on Washington mont is the second smallest state of the for Jobs and Freedom.” union, with a population of less than 6,50,000; the “city” of Burlington has Career as Mayor fewer than 50,000 people, and the state The political career of Bernie Sanders, a is predominantly White. Leaving aside candidate running to be the Democratic the question, which is scarcely unimpor- Party nominee in the 2016 Presidential tant, of how Sanders will reach out to elections in the United States (US), has African–Americans and Latinos, large by now been thoroughly rehearsed. The constituencies where his name is little narrative touches upon his unsuccessful known, the critical consideration is how run over a decade for various state offi ces far the experience of Vermont has in Vermont, the tiny north-eastern state shaped his world view and political pri- which he had adopted as his residence, orities. On the issue of gun control, for before his election by 10 votes as mayor instance, Sanders has adopted positions of Burlington in 1981, eight two-year that have sometimes earned him sharp terms in the House of Representatives as rebukes from fellow liberals but plaudits Vermont’s only congressman commenc- from the Republican Party where gun ing in January 1991, and his successful ownership is an article of faith. Even Vinay Lal ([email protected]) teaches run for offi ce as US Senator from Ver- among those who are sympathetic to History at the University of California, mont, the position that he still holds, in him, he is sometimes described as a Los Angeles, the United States. 2006. Sanders’ decade in political “gun nut” (Stern 2015). Most critically,

Economic & Political Weekly EPW OCTOBER 24, 2015 vol l no 43 13 COMMENTARY Sanders cast a vote—a decision that may running is the promise that he will work economy, maintain that a candidate’s come to haunt him—in 1993 against the towards the reduction of glaring and still foreign policy credentials are much less Brady Handgun Violence Prevention growing class inequalities, champion the important than the candidate’s ability to Act, which mandates federal background rights of the working class, and arrest speak to the American people about is- checks for gun purchasers, a minimum the decline of the middle class. In speech sues—the availability of jobs, stagnant fi ve-day waiting period, and greatly after speech, and in his declared “Agenda wages, the future of social security, restricted access to fi rearms for felons. for America: 12 Steps Forward” (Sanders immigration reform—that appear to be The US is, of course, exceptional 2015), he has highlighted his plan to more central to their well-being and the among the wealthy nations of the global have the minimum federal wage in- prosperity of American families and North in the rate of homicide by fi re- creased from $7.25 an hour which he communities. If Sanders’ foreign policy arms, and in countries such as Holland rightly describes as a “starvation wage” prescriptions have shortcomings, it is or, better still, Japan—where over the to a “livable wage,” strengthen the not clear that these would be much of a last few years the number of homicides hands of trade unions, introduce gender liability for him. by fi rearms is about 10 each year—it pay equity, make college affordable to Nevertheless, it is important to probe would be a laughable proposition that all, and “take on Wall Street.” Sanders briefl y Sanders’ positions on US foreign the Brady Act should be construed as a argues, quite reasonably, that a majority policy, more particularly since they “progressive” piece of legislation. And, of Americans share his aspirations, and might help reveal whether there is any- yet, Sanders could not bring himself to he expects to get considerable traction thing that marks him as someone who vote for an exceedingly modest legisla- from this streak of populism. “Our coun- might help dim the long-burning fl ame tive intervention in a public sphere dom- try belongs to all our people and not just of American hubris. To take one exam- inated by the National Rifl e Association a handful of billionaires,” he told an ple, on the vexed question of the “Iran (NRA) and its supporters. Sanders may audience in Minneapolis in late May, Deal,” which Republicans, with unstint- claim in his defence that he represents and while deploring the “grotesque level ing support from the state of Israel and the entire state of Vermont, not just of income and wealth inequality in the American Zionists, attempted to scuttle progressives and liberals, but the fact US” at a press meeting, he called for a with one of the most relentless political remains that Vermont has a high gun “political revolution in this country” campaigns in recent memory, Sanders ownership rate, a culture of hunting, (Cassidy 2015). Even elements of this came out in full support of President and comparatively lax gun control laws; rhetoric are shared by others, such as Barack Obama. He has described the the state allows anyone to carry con- those activists who instigated Occupy deal as a victory “for diplomacy over cealed weapons without a permit. Wall Street and the subsequent Occupy sabre-rattling,” and more generally his Though Sanders has also cast votes movement. agreement with Obama’s disposition to for measures that would increase mini- Where Sanders has certainly gone negotiate political solutions is signifi ed mum sentencing for gun crimes and ban beyond other politicians and almost by his remark that “diplomatic relations, the sale of semi-automatic assault weap- certainly the great majority of Americans, even with adversarial countries, are ons, his tacit support for the gun lobby is is in his analysis of the undeclared class integral to long-term security.” nowhere more apparent than in his egre- warfare that the “wealthiest and most Considering that the American politi- gious support for the NRA-backed Protec- powerful people” in the country have been cal landscape is extremely permissive tion of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a waging “against working families, of individuals such as the former US piece of legislation, introduced by the against the disappearing and shrinking Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Republicans in 2005, which shields gun middle class of our country. The billion- John Bolton, who unambiguously called manufacturers and dealers from liability aires of America are on the warpath. for the bombing of Iran in the New York when their fi rearms have been used for They want more and more and more” Times (Bolton 2015), Sanders may at criminal activity (Stern 2015; Qiu 2015). (Sanders 2010). On conservative late-night least be applauded for his reasoned Reportedly, Sanders is said to ascribe to TV shows, and elsewhere in the US, all of views and his faith in diplomacy. In April the view that “there’s an elitism in the this is evidence writ large of Sanders’ 2015, however, Sanders affi rmed a view anti-gun movement” (Stern 2015); or, in a “socialist,” even “communist,” credentials. that is the bedrock of American politics different language, on this matter at least with respect to its long-time nemesis in he stands with small-town America. Foreign Policy and Empire West Asia: “It is imperative that Iran not If domestic policy appears to be Sanders’ get a nuclear weapon.” One can under- Against Class Inequalities main strength, notwithstanding his stand that to advocate a position even While Sanders may not necessarily be of ambivalence on the issue of gun control, he remotely at odds with this view is to the school of thought which holds that is hardly exceptional among American banish oneself into political oblivion in “small is beautiful,” he has also exp- presidential candidates. Many Americans, the US. While Sanders obviously supports ressed a preference for the Scandinavian even as they recognise and applaud the nuclear non-proliferation, he has not countries as models of social welfare unique place that the US continues to called for universal nuclear disarmament. states. The main plank on which he is occupy in global politics and the world The supposition here is that a so-called

14 OCTOBER 24, 2015 vol l no 43 EPW Economic & Political Weekly COMMENTARY

“rogue state” must be denied the nuclear Airport, Sanders and his two Vermont American, who watches television forty option, though evidently one must not colleagues from the US Congress jubi- hours a week, you have probably heard of have any qualms about the US, the only lantly celebrated this triumph with a such important people as Kojak and Wonder Woman, have heard about dozens of differ- state to have deployed the atomic bomb, press release where they stated: ent underarm spray deodorants…Strangely continuing to exercise a role as the The Air Force decision to base its newest enough, however, nobody has told you about world’s supreme guardian. generation of planes in Burlington is a tribute Gene Debs, one of the most important Ame- Sanders’ record over a lifetime points, to the Vermont Air National Guard, which is ricans of the 20th century. as nothing else, to the abysmal failure the fi nest in the nation. It refl ects the Guard’s Sanders goes on to say that the of imagination that is at the heart of dedication to its mission and long record of dea fening silence surrounding Debs owes outstanding performance. Ame rican politics and the constraints of a everything to “the handful of people who well-oiled system that brooks no signifi - Sanders has never declined any oppor- own and control this country, inclu ding cant dissent. If he sounds “radical” to tunity to bring military jobs to his state: the mass media, and the educational sys- many Americans, it is again no refl ection exasperated by his advocacy of military tem, [who] still regard Debs and his ideas on his politics but rather a commentary Keynesianism (Custers 2010), one of as dangerous” (Sanders 1979). on the degree to which the US is an outli- Sanders’ critics has put it in bald lan- The most apposite fact about Debs, er with respect to the social norms which guage: “He [Sanders] stands behind all considering Sanders’ run for the presi- defi ne much of the civilised world, military contractors who bring much- dency, is not that America’s most prin- whether the matter under consideration needed jobs to Vermont” (Naylor 2011). cipled and radical politician was the be restraints on gun ownership, incar- Socialist Party’s candidate for the Presi- ceration as an institutionalised form of Tweedledum, Tweedledee dency fi ve times, or even that Debs spent racial discrimination, or restraints on the and the Third Party three years in prison, 1918–21, after national security state. It may be In attempting to position Sanders in the his conviction under the Espionage Act admirable that, much like Obama in the American political landscape, we should for obstructing government recruitment run-up to his campaign for the presidency recall his fond admiration for Eugene efforts during World War I. “Let the in 2007–08, Sanders is relying upon tens Debs, whose portrait hangs in Sanders’ capitalists do their own fi ghting,” Debs of thousands of individual donors to offi ce (Leibovich 2007), and the funda- urged American workers, “and furnish fi nance his campaign rather than the mental fact that everything in American their own corpses and there will never handouts of super political action com- politics oscillates between Democrats be another war on the face of the earth” mittees and the very rich. But once we and Republicans, Tweedledum and (Stone and Kuznick 2012: 5). The most are past this sentimental populism, which Tweedledee. Though Sanders is the striking fact, and here Sanders is not a even forbids us to ask why the American longest-serving independent in the history patch on the man he professes to admire, elections cannot be managed with state of the US Congress, on the vast majority is that Debs was astute enough to recog- funds allocated in equal part to each of issues he votes alongside the Demo- nise that the US had been spectacularly candidate, diffi cult questions remain. crats; more critically, he is seeking to be successful in creating an institutionalised Sanders’ foreign policy shows that the the Democratic Party’s nominee for the form of illusory demo cracy. The Republi- system will permit some degree of President. His supporters argue that his can and Democratic parties, “or, to be tinkering but no substantive critique is candidacy cannot otherwise be viable, more exact, the Republican-Democratic at all possible. since no one outside the two main political party,” Debs told his audience in Indian- Sanders might refuse to cower before parties has won the White House after apolis in September 1904 while accept- the bully who leads Israel, but he can Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party was ing the Socialist Party’s nomination for well afford to do so; taking a militant, or elected President of the US in 1848. the Presidency, at least principled, stand on the extraor- Sanders has declared that, were he to are the political wings of the capitalist sys- dinary and pernicious infl uence that is lose the battle for the Democratic Party’s tem and such differences as arise between exercised by the American Israel Public nomination for President, he will throw them relate to spoils and not to prin ciples. Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in American his weight—not merely his endorse- With either of those parties in power, one politics is well-nigh impossible. ment, but his entire organisation— thing is always certain, and that is that the There is nothing in Sanders’ declared behind the party’s nominee. But this is capitalist class is in the saddle and the work- ing class under the saddle (Debs 1904). positions which points to a desire on his scarcely what would have been done by part to critique the idea of empire to Eugene Debs, “Trade Unionist, Socialist, However liberal Sanders may be in which the US is wedded, nor has he ever Revolutionary, 1855–1926,” whom a relation to his adversaries from either really weighed in with a critique of mili- youn ger Bernie Sanders introduced for a party, he signifi es the constraints that tarism. It is a telling fact that when the Smithsonian Folkways audio documen- are intrinsic to the system. Every four US Air Force relayed its decision to locate tary in 1979 with the following words: years the most progressive faction of the F the horrendously expensive -35, the It is very probable, especially if you are a Democratic Party takes heart at the can- latest generation of its combat aircraft, young person, that you have never heard of didacy of someone who promises, if not at Vermont’s Burlington International Eugene Victor Debs. If you are the average a “new dawn,” power to the people,

Economic & Political Weekly EPW OCTOBER 24, 2015 vol l no 43 15 COMMENTARY checks on corporate power, respect for be seduced by such arguments of the demo- Leibovich, Mark (2007): “The Socialist Senator,” The New York Times Magazine, 21 January, available mainstream America, opposition to an crats as, for example, that by so doing they are splitting the democratic party and mak- at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/mag unpopular war—and the US is nearly azine/21Sanders.t.html?pagewanted=all, ac- ing it possible for the reactionaries to win. cessed on 11 October 2015. always at war—and even the return of The ultimate intention of all such phrases is Markus, Bethania Palma (2015): “The Bernie Effect,” the country to its real roots—though to dupe the proletariat (Tucker 1978: 508). 11 August, available at http://www.rawstory. com/2015/08/the-bernie-effect-noam-chom- what are those roots, one might ask, if The “democratic party” that Marx spoke sky-says-sanders-will-push-the-entire-democrat- not genocide and slavery? The last third of is not, of course, the Democratic Party ic-party-to-the-left/ accessed on 12 October. US Naylor, Thomas H (2011): “The Myth of Bernie party candidate with any viability at all, of the . But what strikes one is how lit- Sanders,” Counterpunch, 30 September, available Ralph Nader (Green Party), one of the tle has changed when it comes to poli- at http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/30/ the-myth-of-bernie-sanders/ accessed on 10 few fi gures in American political life over tics, and Sanders inspires, at least at pre- October 2015. the decades who can speak of a sustained sent, little hope that his election would Perlstein, Rick (2015): “A Political Education,” The University of Chicago Magazine, 107, No 3, Jan- opposition to corporate America and an introduce any fundamental alterations uary–February, pp 42–49. unblemished record of public service, in the political arrangements that have Qiu, Linda (2015): “Did Bernie Sanders Vote against Background Checks…,” 10 July, available at would suffer the ignominy of being de- long guided the American Republic. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ rided as a spoiler when he was held statements/2015/jul/10/generation-forward- References pac/did-bernie-sanders-vote-against-back- accountable for Al Gore’s narrow margin ground-checks-/accessed on 12 October 2015. of defeat to George Bush in the 2000 Bernie Sanders US Senator for Vermont (2013): Sanders, Bernard (1979): “Eugene V Debs,” Folkways “Delegation Statement on F–35s,” 3 December, Record FH5571, Linear Notes, available at presidential election. Most often, of course, available at http://www.sanders. senate.gov/ http://media. smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_ the supposed Messiah of the progres- newsroom/press-releases/delegation-statement- notes/folkways/FW05571.pdf, accessed on on-f-35s, accessed on 10 October 2015. 12 October 2015. sives has come from within the Demo- Bolton, John (2015): “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb — (2010): “Floor Speech on the Economy,” 30 No- cratic Party—Howard Dean in 2004 and, Iran,” New York Times, 26 March, available at vember, available at http://www.sanders.senate. http://www.nytimes. com/2015/03/26/opinion/ gov/newsroom/press-releases/fl oor-speech- of course, Barack Obama in 2008. Such to-stop-irans-bomb-bomb-iran.html?_r=0, acc on-the-economy, accessed on 12 October 2015. candidates may have the effect of ener- essed on 12 October 2015. — (2015): “Agenda for America,” available at http:// Cassidy, John (2015): “Bernie Sanders: A Man with www.sanders.senate.gov/agenda/, accessed on gising the activist base, always a little un- a Cause,” New Yorker, 1 June. 12 October. easy at the ludicrous spectacle and scan- Custers, Peter (2010): “Military Keynesianism Stern, Mark Joseph (2015): “Bernie Sanders, Gun Today: An Innovative Discourse,” Race & Class Nut,” Slate, May 6, available at http://www. dalous money-laundering machine that 51, No 4, April, pp 79–94. slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/juris- the US presidential election has become, Debs, Eugene V (1904): “The Socialist Party and prudence/2015/05/bernie_sanders_on_guns_ the Working Class,” available at https://www. vermont_independent_voted_against_gun_ but more importantly it is now a matter marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1904/sp_ control_for.html [accessed 12 October 2015] of nearly spiritual faith among “progres- wkingclss.htm, accessed on 10 October 2015. Stone, Oliver and Peter Kuznick (2012): The Untold Jewish Telegraphic Agency (2014): “Senate Letter History of the United States, New York: Gallery sives” to hope that American democracy Calling for P A Return to Gaza Has AIPAC Books. is more than the dead letter of the law. Backing,” available at http://www.jta.org/ Tucker, Robert C, ed (1978): The Marx-Engels 2014/09/10/news-opinion/politics/senate-let- Reader, 2nd ed, New York: W W Norton. Some of Sanders’ followers will be ter-calling-for-pa-return-to-gaza-has-aipac- candid enough to admit that their sup- backing, accessed on 10 October 2015. [All online sources accessed on 19 October 2015.] port for him is a matter of tactics rather than principle; in common parlance, when Journal Rank of EPW the choice is between a hawk such as Hillary Clinton, or xenophobes like Don- Economic & Political Weekly is indexed on Scopus, “the largest abstract and citation database ald Trump, not to mention other candi- of peer-reviewed literature,” which is prepared by Elsevier NV (http://tinyurl.com/o44sh7a). dates who help illustrate the 50 different Scopus has indexed research papers that have been published in EPW from 2008 onwards. shades of lunacy, one has the moral obli- The Scopus database journal ranks country-wise and journal-wise. It provides three broad sets gation to vote for Sanders and prepare of rankings: (i) Number of Citations, (ii) H-Index and (iii) SCImago Journal and Country Rank. the way for “the real revolution.” One is Presented below are EPW’s ranks in 2014 in India, Asia and globally, according to the total already hearing the argument, even from cites (3 years) indicator. the likes of Noam Chomsky, that Sanders’ ● Highest among 36 Indian social science journals and highest among 159 social science journals ranked in Asia. candidacy might have the desirable effect ● Highest among 36 journals in the category, “Economics, Econometrics and Finance” in the at least of pushing the Democratic Party Asia region, and 36th among 835 journals globally. to the left. His supporters would do well ● Highest among 23 journals in the category, “Sociology and Political Science” in the Asia perhaps to read a little more of Marx, region, and 15th among 928 journals globally. such as his March 1850 address to the ● Between 2008 and 2014, EPW’s citations in three categories (“Economics, Econometrics, Communist League in London: and Finance”; “Political Science and International Relations”; and “Sociology and Political Even where there is no prospect whatsoever Science”) were always in the second quartile of all citations recorded globally in the of their being elected, the workers must put Scopus database. up their own candidates in order to preserve For a summary of statistics on EPW on Scopus, including of the other journal rank indicators, their independence, to count their forces and please see http://tinyurl.com/qe949dj to bring before the public their revolutionary EPW consults referees from a database of 200+ academicians in different fields of the social attitude and party standpoint. In this con- sciences on papers that are published in the Special Article and Notes sections. nection they must not allow themselves to

16 OCTOBER 24, 2015 vol l no 43 EPW Economic & Political Weekly