EDITORIAL
Two Conventions, One Ruling Class behind Both

Aug 1, 2016

Donald Trump is everything the Democrats say he is: anti-worker, misogynist, and racist. He’s all that and more–vile in the way he maligns whole groups of people; repellant in his pretense to “defend the people who cannot defend themselves”; and a ruthless businessman whose history is littered with people he exploited, harmed and cheated.

He claims that he is the only one who can fix the system because “nobody knows it better” than him. Yes, he knows it–and has used it his whole life, just as the whole capitalist class has used it, to accumulate wealth at the expense of the vast majority of the population, those who must work for their living.

This multi-billionaire has spent the last year roaming the country, playing on and reinforcing racist attitudes in the population. He blamed immigrants for the unemployment in this country–in a ploy to hide the truth, that joblessness is created by bosses like Trump who push to squeeze more work out of fewer workers. He blames society’s victims for crime, rather than the system he knows so well and has benefitted from so much, which has impoverished large layers of the population, driving young people who cannot find work into crime. He blames the people in other countries for the wars that ravage the earth, rather than the American capitalist class, of which he is a prize member, a class that exploits people in sweatshops around the world and steals the wealth of other countries.

Trump is a real enemy of working people.

But if anyone believes that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are our friends, they are living in a dream world.

The Democrats may have a “kinder” language than Trump–language that is nothing but a lie–but behind that lying language stands the party that turned law and order into a recipe for jailing two generations of young people for whom this system could not provide jobs. Bill Clinton’s administration, supported by both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, pushed through two “anti-crime” laws in the 1990s, which contributed to the shocking 800% increase in the number of people locked away since 1980–the vast majority for crimes that harmed no one, destroyed nothing and took nothing.

The Democrats may pretend to be shocked at Trump’s bellicose language, but the Democrats eagerly joined Republicans in taking us to the wars that still ravage a large part of the Middle East, wars that have provoked the growth and bitterness of many who flock to ISIS.

At the Convention Bernie Sanders did what he always has done, that is, use a radical language, but then fall in line. On the question of the wars, he spoke against them, but voted for the money spent to carry them out. As for the nomination of Clinton, after calling her the candidate of Wall Street–which she is–he called on his supporters to fall in line, too, and work for her.

People worry that if Trump gets in office there may be an increase in overt acts of violence targeting immigrants or black people–and there may well be. But not because of Trump himself, but because behind Trump is a ruling class that has long tried to divide the working class, pitting one part against the other. And the Democrats have played that game as often as the Republicans: divide in order to rule.

This overheated election campaign presents us with the spectacle of two parties competing with each other, both of which are defenders of big business, of the banks, of big property owners and financial speculators.

The only ones not represented in this electoral farce, the ones who will have no voice are working people–that is, the big majority of the population. Voting for either of these two parties simply means we give a stamp of approval to our class enemies.