GR & the SL 'Intro': relevance to 2001

[Paul Mackin]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
>
> I've got a little thought exercise, one to do with democratic process, and
> justice, and common sense: If there were a Presidential election in the
U.S.
> tomorrow, Bush versus anyone you care to put up against him, Clinton,
> Chomsky, Susan Sontag, what would the result be?

My guess is that if an election were conducted tomorrow Bush would win
because
of the "don't change horses in the middle of the stream" factor. If things
go badly this would change though I doubt the war would have been conducted
any differently under Clinton than Bush. The rhetoric would have been
different but nobody is thinking about rhetoric at the moment.  The stimulus
package might also have been different but that hasn't yet been finalized.
The
degree of caution between the two parties would have been about the same.
This is because the difference between democrats and republicans especially
in an external crisis isn't very great. On the domestic front the
republicans even
now will try to fudge things a little in favor of the well off (House
economic stimulus bill)
and less regulation of business and the democrats will tend in the opposite
direction.
Both move within a fairly narrow band of possibilities. On the war front
(including
war from within, if that's what the anthrax thing is) there is an even
lesser range
of possibilities. Both parties have to work with the same (often
inpenetrable) corporate,
government and military structure.
            P.