In January of 1967, Marxist activist Hal Draper wrote:
The lib-labs would then swoon, crying 'The fascists are coming!' and vote for the Lesser Evil. In these last two decades, the Democrats have learned well that they have the lib-lab vote in their back pocket, and that therefore the forces to be appeased are those forces to the right. The lib-labs were kept happy enough if Hubert Humphrey showed up at a banquet to make his liberal speeches; or, before that, by the Kennedy myth which bemused them even while the first leader on this planet poised his finger over the nuclear-war button and said 'Or else!' With the lib-lab votes in a pocket, politics in this country had to move steadily right-right-right-until even a Lyndon Johnson could look like a Lesser Evil. This is essentially why – even when there really is a Lesser Evil – making the Lesser Evil choice undercuts any possibility of really fighting the Right.
Draper was already speculating on that tumultuous, and seemingly recognizable, election year of 1968. I tend to read the essay every four years, mainly as a reminder that things have only gotten worse. For example, the phrase "lib-lab" means labor liberal. Who are the liberals concerned with labor now? They are the only relevant grouping we could call the left. Today's left are yesterday's liberals. The left used to be the targets of liberal fear mongering ("the fascists are coming"). Now the left ARE the ones pretending to fight fascism. (Even in stubborn old France the left's recent fake victory was orchestrated by the world's most prominent neoliberal.)
So where the fuck is Cornel West? Actually, the real question is where are the people who claim to want to "systemic change?" They're on TikTok. They send lots of tweets. Right now the Democratic Party is in free fall. (Trump takes a bullet with a fist raised. Biden takes Paxlovid with self-isolation.) Is this not the time to show the Dems that you can do more than whine and talk shit, especially if Trump winning is all but inevitable?
The answer of course is no. We must fight fascism by voting for Humphrey, or Harris, or Kerry, or whoever. The cycle is already set for 2028. Vance versus Newsom, and you must fight the fascist Vance. This is the most important election of your lifetime.
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