MAGA Mob Attacks U.S. Capitol
Should the Left Defend U.S. “Democracy”? Who Is Really Under Attack? Who Is Supporting Trump?
The attempt by Trump supporters to attack the Capitol and derail the electoral choice of U.S. voters is disgusting. It is a further extension of the on-going right wing attempt at suppressing the democratic rights of people of color and augmenting the fortunes of the Republican Party. These voter suppression attempts include gerrymandering, Voter ID laws, the closing of polling places etc. These have been increased by U.S. Supreme Court decisions which nearly destroyed the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The Trump street movement is an attempt to replace capitalist democracy with authoritarianism. Within that movement are open Fascist elements . This movement represents a great danger to workers’ rights, racial justice and democratic rights in general. It needs to be organized against and confronted by the Left and anyone committed to democratic rights. The vast majority of Trump voters are not active parts of this movement.
This movement has been whipped up by Trump’s deranged fantasies about winning the election — — if only those BIPOC votes in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Detroit etc. were thrown out. The underlying premise Is that the only real votes are the votes of white people, and preferably right wing white people at that. He addressed his followers on Jan.6, affirming that they were right to be protesting but then told them to “ go home”. This wink and a nod did not influence his supporters to leave. They stayed until finally gently chased away by the police.
However, as dangerous as the Trump street movement is, the ruling class is not ready to turn to it. Most of the ruling class, including far right billionaires want to preserve their rule under the façade of liberal democracy. Further , the vast majority of the rich supported Biden. He is seen as a more competent representative of U.S. capital and U.S. imperialism. The conflict at the top today is most of the ruling class vs. a small cabal of Trump supporters backed by the MAGA movement. This is shown by the court cases and even the attitude of local Republican election officials. The Senators and Representatives who signed on to the electoral vote challenge are primarily doing so to win support from Trump’s base , knowing that their attempt will fail. Many backed off from this challenge in response to the MAGA attack on the Capitol.
The Left should actively oppose Trump’s attempt to invalidate the election. However, we should not sign on to the rationale Liberals are using to oppose it. On the afternoon of Jan.6 , Biden went on national TV to denounce the attack on the “Citadel of Liberty”, the U.S. Capitol. He said that the demonstrators came close to “sedition”. TV commentators echoed his talking points. Some called Trump supporters terrorists and insurrectionists. They seemed most opposed to the methods the Trump supporters used — -actually breaking into the Capitol.
The Capitol Building is not a “Citadel of Liberty”. It was after all built by slave labor! The U.S. is not a democracy in any meaningful sense. As a Princeton U. study showed, the U.S. is an oligarchy. The wishes of the majority are not carried out by their “ representatives”.
https://truthinmedia.com/princeton-study-declares-u-s-government-an-oligarchy/
The Golden Rule governs all capitalist democracies — -Those with the gold make the rules. Besides this general condition under capitalism the U.S. has longstanding structural features that inhibit democracy:
The Senate represents territory not people
The Electoral College allows minorities to elect the president — -as it did in 2000 and 2016
Most felons, immigrants and prisoners are not allowed to vote.
The Supreme Court can invalidate laws
3rd parties are virtually excluded from running for office.
Historically, even the limited democracy we have was won by mass struggle. Black people could not vote until 1865 , and then lost their vote in the South until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Women only won the right to vote in 1920. 18 year olds only won the vote in the 1970s
Leftists should resist the liberal hypocrisy. We should defend democratic rights and oppose this coup attempt, but NOT support and lend legitimacy to the system which is undemocratic. A system founded on slavery and genocide and maintained by exploitation and oppression does not deserve our support. Our problem should not be with “sedition” but with the aims of this “sedition”. A working class revolution will at some point likely also need to storm the Capitol . But this will only happen when the vast majority support the revolution. This Trumpian demonstration is a coup attempt and wrong because it is NOT supported by a majority and is against the interests of the majority.
Supporting the Liberal line on this demonstration is not just an abstract problem. It is likely that the Democrats will use the attempted coup to increase repression. They will crack down even more on any militant protest, claiming it is illegitimate and even “seditious” — -just as they used 9/11 to pass the USA Patriot Act. To the extent that people buy into the official Liberal line on this, they will tend to accept the new repression as necessary. Winning people away from the pro-U.S. system line will help stiffen the resistance against coming repression.
As always, repression comes down most heavily on BIPOC communities , workers and the Left. As we saw at the Capitol today and in previous MAGA rallies, police treat right wingers with kid gloves. As many have said, if the rally today had been a BLM protest, it would have been dispersed quickly, likely with many casualties. This is because the right-wing fundamentally supports the economic system. The system and its police are more threatened by left wing and anti-racist protest.
Oppose the MAGA movement, but also oppose glorification of the U.S. system and state repression that backs it up !
