“Democrats make gun violence in America the primary midterm election issue because the passage of single payer healthcare, a scale back of the military budget, or a reduction in poverty are not issues that the Wall Street-owned, CIA Democrats want to touch.”
Over the course of the last few months, I have been on a break from writing articles to focus on a book project that will consist of a series of essays critiquing and analyzing the relationship between American exceptionalism and American imperialism. It has been difficult to observe political developments without feeling a sense of cynicism and optimism all at the same time. On the one hand, the fact that both political parties have united completely in their assault on the lives of oppressed people has been met with little opposition beyond non-profit centered “resistance” against the orange billionaire in chief. On the other, American imperialism remains in state of permanent crisis. The crisis is so immense that the moribund state of American politics is palpable.
The takeover of the Democratic Party by the so-called “Deep State” (the Real State) is a product of both the crisis of imperialism and the bankruptcy of American politics. All indications point to the 2018 midterm elections being a breeding ground for the CIA’s entrance into the realm of electoral office. According to a World Socialist Website study, “Of the 102 primary elections to choose the Democratic nominees in these competitive districts, 44 involve candidates with a military-intelligence or State Department background.” In other words, a shift from red to blue in the midterm elections would greatly increase the number of spooks holding office in American imperial state. This confirms a trend rooted in the endless clamors for war against Russia based on intelligence assessments that Russia “influenced” the 2016 election campaign.
“The fact that both political parties have united completely in their assault on the lives of oppressed people has been met with little opposition beyond non-profit centered “resistance” against the orange billionaire in chief.”
That is, the CIA is taking the American political apparatus into its own hands. Since the months leading up to Trump’s victory in the 2016 elections, the CIA and its partners in the American intelligence apparatus have been on the front lines of the American march to war with Russia. CIA, NSA, and other National Security sector analysts have taken over the airwaves on MSNBC and CNN to cry foul on the Russians for damaging the most “sacred” aspect of American “democracy:” the electoral process. The Democratic Party surely hasn’t learned from Hillary Clinton’s failed attempt to court voters with a “big tent” for the ruling class to huddle under. National Security spooks from the Obama and Bush II administrations have nothing to offer the poor and desperate working class, especially Black voters who have seen economic conditions decline and murders by police explode. They don’t utter a word about Stephon Clark because they are experts in creating millions of Stephon Clark’s around the globe.
Workers and oppressed people in the American nation-state are compelled to choose between hard right representatives of the White Man’s Republican Party or the Democratic representatives of the war apparatus. Black Americans and union workers have historically held their nose and voted for the Democrats because they represented the “lesser” of two evils. The 2016 elections broke this pattern of behavior, something that no one on the left should grieve. Numerous studies have shown that Black voters and unionized workers ditched the Democrats in high enough numbers to ensure Hillary Clinton’s defeat. The CIA and intelligence candidates that have lined up behind the Democrats should fair no better in 2018.
“Since the months leading up to Trump’s victory in the 2016 elections, the CIA and its partners in the American intelligence apparatus have been on the front lines of the American march to war with Russia.”
But where does this leave us? Surely a chaotic, right-wing Trump Administration offers little to the masses. A type of gridlock has developed that offers some respite from the bipartisan consensus on austerity and war, but not much. Trump has met establishment resistance over many of his ill thought out policies. However, Trump’s time in office has also meant that the ruling class clamor for war with Russia has only become louder. The CIA Democrats have criticized Trump for supposedly being Russia’s “man in the White House.” While Trump has not disappointed in making the rich even richer, he has angered many wealthy donors of the two-party state for not aggressively building upon the foundations of war with Russia laid by prior administrations.
Russia is but one example where the crisis of American imperialism has reached its most desperate stage. The American ruling class is in a panic over its waning global influence and has consistently sought to obliterate any opposition to its rule. Conditions of decline are also evident inside of the American nation-state. The hoarding of wealth by the top 1 percent has reached astronomical levels. Mass shootings dominate headlines. Teachers in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma have all partaken in strikes against the austerity and privatization currently ravaging public education. All American imperialism has to offer is more war, more poverty, and more suppression of the legitimate problems afflicting workers and poor people.
“The hoarding of wealth by the top 1 percent has reached astronomical levels.”
And because this is all American imperialism can offer, it is all the Democratic Party can offer. The Republicans march on as a significantly weaker party of the White Man after Trump’s win, while the Democrats attempt to regain strength off the backs of the “Deep State.” Democrats criticize Republicans for becoming the party of white supremacy yet fail to mention how they have become the party of Reagan. In full neo-con dress, the Democratic Party “resists” gun violence with billionaire donors and exploit youth of former FBI heads. Democrats make gun violence in America the primary midterm election issue because the passage of single payer healthcare, a scale back of the military budget, or a reduction in poverty are not issues that the Wall Street-owned, CIA Democrats want to touch. The system of imperialism is swallowing itself.
At some point, the crisis of American imperialism will morph into a full-on collapse. Democratic leadership will continue to support actual fascists in Ukraine or Pinochet type mercenaries around the world at their own peril. It will continue to ignore the needs of the people at home because the very interests of its Wall Street and militarist donors leave it no other choice. The Republicans will continue to flock right and split into a thousand pieces. Many forget that the Republicans have lost much of their base to Trump, and not even he may be able to maintain grip of the White Man’s Party.
“Persistent unemployment and massive closures of industry such as that seen in retail are products of the perils of high-tech capitalism.”
Politics in the American nation-state are completely moribund. American imperialism is reaching a point of no return. It has developed the most high-tech capitalist economy in world history only to watch that economy contract under the weight of its own contradictions. Persistent unemployment and massive closures of industry such as that seen in retail are products of the perils of high-tech capitalism. The system relies on debt because workers and poor people in America cannot absorb the fruits of labor. They are too busy dying at the hands of the police, filling up homeless shelters, or growing old inside of prison.
American politics have followed the path of decline paved by imperialism. China and Russia are on the rise, economically and militarily. A new world is closer than we think. But the CIA Democrats and their so-called Republican opposition still have a monopoly on the narrative. Their popularity is on the decline, but disaffected workers and poor people have nowhere else to go. Third Parties have been systematically excluded and grassroots movements are weak. Instead of Democratic campaign issues like gun violence, we should be placing our attention on these central problems. Their resolution will determine whether the people choose cynicism or optimism in the political struggles to come.
Danny Haiphong is an activist and journalist in the New York City area. He can be reached at [email protected].
African journalists strive to decolonize their work, and the struggle to free the Pendleton 2.
The Pendleton 2: They Stood Up is a new documentary about political prisoners held in Indiana.
Decolonizing African journalism.
There is an understandable yearning for a progressive president. But like dreams of happily ever after endings, the fantasy is just that.
In May 1979, the Center for Afro-American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles hosted a symposium titled The Political Economy of the Black World. We are publishing, for the first…
