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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2004YouthOn the limits of electoral politicsby Brown Douglas The support that Howard Dean's presidential campaign is getting from many people in diverse sectors of American society is getting plenty of attention in the bourgeois media. The doctor and former governor of Vermont is known for opposing the war in Iraq, spearheading a successful civil union law for gays and lesbians in Vermont, being pro-choice, and campaigning for some form of a universal health care program, among other things. All of these issues grab the attention of many youth who are not exclusively, but largely involved in social justice movements. Here is not the place to argue the pluses and minuses of all of Dean's individual stances as a Democratic candidate for president, and whether or not they all add up to a true leftist running for the White House. A more interesting way of looking at it for those of us fighting for revolutionary social transformation, I think, is to talk about why many youth are so involved in electoral politics this time around and why Dean, by and large, is the one they're so involved with. YOUTH AND HOWARD DEAN Tapping in to broad-based anger at Bush and his administration is something that Dean appears to be doing pretty well. The appeal of a fundamental change in America, its policies, and its society is something that Dean taps in to in order to gain support from many opposed to Bush and also those disenfranchised who don't vote for anyone because they think it's pointless. This appeal goes directly to the heart of many of us yearning for something, anything in the way of institutional change in the direction that the U.S. is going. No one has ever wanted change more than youth, because the nature of our alienation is that we live in a world not made by us. Digging deeper into the subjectivity of youth can help see why it is these things that Dean is perceived to represent that are drawing many in to electoral politics. But we shouldn't forget that Dean owes his political existence, or at least much of his present popularity, to the social movements whose individuals compose his pool of supporters. For instance, one of the largest anti-war movements before and during the onset of the Iraq war made it possible for Dean's anti-war stance to be heard, not the other way around. We can't forget that the movement's highpoint was not only its calling for stopping an imperialist attack on an oppressed people, but its implicit and sometimes explicit message that we need a society without Bushes, Saddams, and wars. We need to get back to that point and further develop it rather than risk taking the road towards being co-opted into a political campaign. ANYONE BUT BUSH? The popular and admittedly tempting "anyone but Bush" slogan should make us ask, "Is that good enough for us?" I think that we're selling ourselves short if we answer yes to that question. "Anyone but Bush" is definitely a start. But if we develop the positive side of the repulsion we feel when we think of Bush, I think we'll find that Dean--or anyone else running for President--doesn't personify all of the multi-faceted and diverse wants and needs of youth to be more full human beings taking part in a truly free society. It's not too idealistic to say that we really need youth to take control and build something opposed to, rather than participating in, the present system. All of the lessons of the 1960s movements would be lost if we accepted that view. The historical truth is that when youth move, leaders have to follow to catch up and ride the wave that we create. We had a new start in 1999 with the rise of the movement against global capital, but have been trying to get back on our feet since the terrorist attacks of September 11. When we talk of presidential candidates and what they can do for us, we should also be thinking of our power and ability to change this society from the bottom up. |
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