The death of the lesser of two evils
If not Camejo, then Flynt!

Alexander Cockburn - Creators Syndicate

08.06.03 - I gave a talk about current politics at
Diesel, a fine Oakland independent bookstore, late
last week. No one in the leftish crowd seemed notably
put out when I declared myself dubious of the
proposition that the only element of mystery about
9/11 was whether George W. Bush had ordered the
attacks on the World Trade Center on his own
initiative or was merely acting as the catspaw of Dick
Cheney.

Nor was there any outcry when I denounced Ariel Sharon
as a war criminal and his U.S. claque as a bunch of
unconscionable rogues.

But as soon as I said I couldn't see much reason to
get excited about Howard Dean as a candidate for the
Democratic nomination and he seemed to me to be a
thoroughly conventional right winger, there was an
audible ripple of irritation in the crowd. In the
course of an angry denunciation of my unsparing
comments about Dean, a woman said that the left should
be rallying not only to the standard of the former
governor of Vermont, but of Governor Gray Davis of
California, now facing a recall vote in early October.

Gray Davis! There was a time once when "lesser of two
evils" actually meant something momentous, like the
choice between starving to death on a lifeboat or
eating the first mate. Was there ever a man who
brought the always gray phrase "lesser of two evils"
into greater disrepute?

Shackled to "lesser of two evils" is its dread mate,
"compromise." In its funereal syllables is congealed
the whole sad history of the U.S. two-party system,
from the first compromise in the Constitution allowing
the import of slaves till 1820, to the Missouri
Compromise letting that slave state enter the union,
to the compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction.

The twentieth century was no better. In the
compromises that ensured Republican hegemony there was
one moment of hope, sparked by the Great Depression
and the vast public zeal to get out of it. Then, after
the war, America saw programs for full employment, for
complete social security. Education at the University
of California cost $50 a quarter. Democratic clubs in
California exercised strong populist control over
prospective candidates.

In the years that followed, the Democrats slowly
bargained everything away, in that same spirit of
compromise. No one talks about full employment now.
Organized labor is belittled. Oldsters see Social
Security being eroded.

The paradigm of this downward descent is Gray Davis,
who now proclaims that he is going to fight "like a
Bengal tiger." It takes one to know one. Bengal tigers
like to hang out near some village and eat small cows,
fearing even the stately water buffalo. When its teeth
go bad the Bengal tiger gives up on the cows and
starts attacking elderly, defenseless humans.

Davis' only enthusiasms are for raising money and
endorsing the death penalty. His main achievement has
been to ransom California off to the energy Mafia. He
represents the End of Politics as anything remotely
honorable or idealistic.

But now, when Real Politics gloriously and excitingly
raises its head in the recall effort, many leftists
bleat nervously about Republican plots, and the need
to rally to the Democratic Party and its man in
Sacramento. Despite official Green endorsement of the
recall effort, many Greens aren't much better. I
listened to one the other day, a fellow of normally
militant fiber, whining that the recall bid is
unleashing "toxic" forces and everyone should work for
Davis.

But there's a sound Green candidate in the form of
Peter Camejo, and surely the recall ballot, with some
hundreds of candidates crowding in before next
weekend's cut-off, represents the best Green shot ever
at capturing any significant slot, with normal voting
blocs possibly fracturing.

Real Democracy, as opposed to the sham stuff usually
on offer, is embodied in the ability to recall
politicians who stab their supporters in the back.
Davis should face the music. How wonderful it would be
to see Larry Flynt roll into the governor's mansion in
Sacramento, and by making that possible, Davis would
earn himself a page in the history books, not merely a
footnote about his skills as a fundraiser.

(c) 2003 Creators Syndicate