Editor's Page
Cohen, Mitchell
"THE PEOPLE have spoken" said James A. Baker the Third after George Bush's dubious Florida victory (of .009 percent) was certified (by his campaign co-chair there). Not mentioned: Al...
...They failed, split the center-left, and delivered electoral votes to Bush...
...n Do the elections represent convergence on the "center" or deep division within...
...Had the elections ended "normally" we would have run a small symposium in this issue...
...The raw pursuit of power by the Republicans compares only to their pursuit of Bill Clinton...
...We should pose hard questions instead—about the political culture, about how elections work, about the roles of money and the media in them, about the nonvoting half of the electorate...
...Nader insisted that "there is no difference between Gore and Bush...
...In short, the left should make no distinctions and not he accountable for its choices...
...Can one express more contempt of democratic citizenship...
...Gore's the spoiler, not me, Nader said after the elections...
...A growing conservative majority on the Supreme Court augers bad things for abortion and civil rights...
...n To be an "alternative," especially a left alternative, your starting point must be "a decent respect to the opinions" of American citizens...
...New Democratic" centrism dominated the last eight years...
...THE PEOPLE have spoken" said Jiames A. Baker the Third after George Bush's dubious Florida vic tory (of .009 percent) was certified (by his campaign co-chair there...
...We try to reflect on them...
...Not mentioned: Al Gore's 325,000 national plurality...
...Well, yes...
...When Florida's Supreme Court backed recounts, Congressman Tom Delay assailed it for violating "the trust of the people of Florida in an attempt to manipulate the results of a fair and free election...
...Given New Democratic claims, Gore should have won easily...
...Out of the woods or from Bush to . . . Bush...
...He carried Michigan thanks to 63 percent of union and 92 percent of African-American voters...
...n What were left options in 2000...
...Where does the third way lead...
...n Facile "authorities" will soon tell us that "in the end the system worked...
...n Dissent magazine, a quarterly, cannot keep up with events...
...One was a "left wing of the possible," as Michael Harrington used to call it—a coalition of labor, minorities, feminists, and environmentalists within the Democratic Party...
...n This strategy assumed that another attempt at a third party would fail...
...so expect some serious scrutiny of America's political state in our next issue...
...Sure—if the voice of "the people" was certified in Florida...
...Don't blame us if Bush wins, echoed supporters...
...The Greens hoped to win 5 percent...
...The left was troubled, rightly, by the Clinton-Gore welfare reform and a trade policy that was indistinguishable from the policies of Bush the First...
...It assumed Gore and Bush were not interchangeable...
...Still, one can hazard a few comments...
...n Ralph Nader's alternative candidacy miscarried...
...A Gore presidency could be tugged left if indebted to this coalition...
...And what of Bush appointees to the National Labor Relations Board...
...Not mentioned: Florida's uncounted votes...
...M.C...
Vol. 48 • January 2001 • No. 1
