About the Election
Howe, Irving
Irving Howe I'm not quite as sanguine as some Dissent editors about Dukakis but when you look at the other candidate, Bush caving in to the troglodyte right and its Quayle, there isn't any choice...
...It's not a matter of patriotism...
...poor folks, especially poor blacks, had to do the fighting...
...it's a class issue...
...Irving Howe I'm not quite as sanguine as some Dissent editors about Dukakis but when you look at the other candidate, Bush caving in to the troglodyte right and its Quayle, there isn't any choice but Dukakis...
...The Quayle issue is important...
...The division is clear and blunt: those who want to cripple or hold back the welfare state and continue cold war rhetoric, and those who, however timidly, see a need for some social reform and a turn to detente...
...But what should be decisive for people like us is a simple test: what kinds of socio-economic groups and which trends of opinion are supporting Bush and which are supporting Dukakis...
...He isn't going to set liberal hearts on fire, he isn't even going to use that dreadful word...
...It's true that both parties peddle a lot of pap...
...Sons of the rich, including those who later became red-hots for defense, found ways of not going to Vietnam...
...but if he is elected, there will at least be an arena for political struggle within or near his administration in which unions, blacks, women can press for necessary steps...
...Last but hardly least: An election outcome assuring the return of Elliot Abrams to private life would have a cheerful ring, wouldn't it...
...that neither candidate sufficiently engages with the problems Nick Mills talks about in this symposium...
Vol. 35 • September 1988 • No. 4
