The first presidential debate of the 2020 election is history, and most of the world is having themselves a great laugh. Two elderly men, one a sitting president and the other a former vice president, both vying for the top political office in the country, have succeeded in making great fools of themselves. The journalists are comparing this to two kindergarten children, fighting in the school yard. Those journalists are the kind ones.
The journalists who are less kind, but perhaps more accurate, are referring to the debate as a disgrace, chaotic and combative, complete with interruptions and personal insults, a train wreck complete with cross talk, a monstrosity, a disaster, an insult to the American people. They also said that it was difficult to refer to this debate without resorting to expletives. That did not stop one lady from describing it as a gong show, although the word she used was not ”gong”. All agreed that it was an insult to the American people.
This is all very true, just as it is also true that a great many Americans were watching this spectacle. As that is the case, it is up to class conscious people, Marxists, Communists, to explain to people that this is a very clear cut example of bourgeois democracy. Such childish behaviour, including name calling and personal insults, usually takes place behind closed doors. Then the bourgeois politicians come to an agreement and present a united face to the public. The fact that this behaviour is now being openly displayed is an indication of the strength of the revolutionary movement, and the fact that the bourgeois is now deeply divided. They can no longer rule in the old way!
The moderator tried to pin down Trump, to the statement that he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power, in the event of losing the election. Of course, Trump refused. But then, Trump is not legally obligated to honour the election results of the presidential vote! Such a vote is merely a formality. The real power rests with the few hundred Electors, the members of the Electoral College. Their vote is the only vote which matters.
The Twelveth Amendment to the Constitution makes it quite clear that the President, as well as the Vice President, are elected by the members of the Electoral College. It should be stressed to the working people that the tens of millions of voters do not elect the president, but that the few hundred Electors do elect the president. Further, the Electors are not accountable to the state which they represent. They are under no legal obligation to vote for the candidate who won the most popular votes.
No doubt many voters, or at least the more advanced voters, will object that this is hardly the case. Many states, if not all, have laws passed which require the Electors to vote for the candidate who receives the majority of popular votes. Equally without doubt, the lawyers who represent Trump are prepared to argue, in the Supreme Court, that these laws are unconstitutional!
The fact is that Trump has a small army of lawyers working for him. Some of them are experts in Constitutional law, which is the reason he hired them. They have been assigned the task of making sure Trump is re-elected, and they are determined to do just that. They are prepared to argue that no state has the right to interfere in any federal election. As that is the case, any and all state laws which require the Elector to vote in a manner which the state demands, is unconstitutional. It is very likely that the Supreme Court will agree with them, and rule in their favour. It is also very likely that the ruling will be unanimous.
The opposing lawyers will likely argue that this is traditional, that it is customary for the Electors to vote for the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the state. Yet the Supreme Court justices will reply that they are concerned with the Constitution, the law of the land, and not with custom and tradition. The only reason these state laws have not been struck down before now is because no one has challenged them!
It is perhaps ironic that Trump, one of the finest, most successful liars, cheats and swindlers of modern times, may be able to weasel his way into a second term as president, using legal means! He merely has to persuade various state legislatures to appoint two hundred seventy Electors to vote for him. The popular vote be damned!
The press is now counting down the days to the election. They would have us believe that it is the sacred Day of Salvation, the day upon which society will be relieved of the burden of the Spectre of Trump. Such is hardly the case, but as the working people watch the news, and are interested in the election, it presents us with an opportunity to raise their level of awareness.
The federal election, ”or election day”, to which it is being referred, is on November 3. On that day, or more accurately that evening, it is customary for one of the candidates for the presidency to declare victory, while it is also customary for the other candidate to rather graciously concede defeat. This year, that is not about to happen.
Both candidates, as well as the press, are focused upon the Electoral College. Each state has a certain number of ”Electoral Votes”, based upon the population of the state. This means that the more people in the state, the more Electors the state can nominate to vote for the next president. It is the Electors who vote to determine the next president, not the citizens.
It is customary for the candidate who wins the majority of popular votes in any particular state to receive all of the Electoral votes for that state. This means that the Electors from that state are required to vote for that particular candidate, either Republican or Democrat. It is referred to as the two party system, and it has served the bourgeois well, for a great many years. In certain states, there is even a law to that effect. In this way, on election day, each candidate is able to determine the number of Electoral votes they are about to receive. The popular vote is important only in that it determines the candidate for whom the Electors from that state are obligated to elect. As the successful candidate is required to receive two hundred seventy Electoral votes, that is the ”magic number”.
At least, that is the way it is supposed to work, and has worked for many elections, since the days of the Civil War. The only flaw in the system is that it is strictly against the law. That is the argument the lawyers for Trump are prepared to make to the Supreme Court.
It is very likely that Biden, as the Democratic candidate for president, will declare victory on election night. He will announce that he has the majority of Electoral votes. We can expect Trump to deny this, as the popular vote does not determine the Electoral vote!
In addition, due to the fact that most citizens plan to vote by mail this year, it is anticipated that the vote count will be delayed. As Trump has gone to great lengths to delay mail delivery, this is not too surprising. Still, by law, all votes must be counted by December 8. This is referred to as the ”safe harbour” day. Any ballots not counted by that day, will never be counted.
The next step in the complicated process to elect a president takes place on December 14. On that day, the Electors, in the various states, cast their ballots for president. Yet even that does not end the process. On December 23, the votes arrive in Washington. Then after New Years, on January 6, the Electoral votes are counted in Congress. It is only at that point, two months after the election, that a new president is determined.
The system was set up in the days of horse and buggy, so to say that it is obsolete is an understatement.
Trump and his team of legal eagles have detected a few flaws in the system, which they fully plan to exploit. The only votes he requires for re-election is that of the Electors, and a mere two hundred seventy of them. Any state interference can and will be challenged in the Supreme Court, as no state has the right to meddle in a federal election. Or at least the lawyers will make those arguments.
This also helps to explain the reason Trump is so determined to appoint another Justice to the Supreme Court. He no doubt thinks that the Justice he appoints, will rule in his favour. That remains to be seen.
The final step in the presidential gong show will not take place until January 20. On that day, by Constitutional law, a new president will take the oath of office. If it cannot be determined which candidate should be president, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will become the next president, as a ”place holder”. The expression is not mine.
It is entirely possible that there will never be another president of the United States. Some of the most highly respected members of the bourgeois press are of the opinion that American democracy is ”teetering”, that the country has lost its ”moral compass”. They are afraid that the American empire is on the verge of collapse, and in this they are absolutely correct. This is not to say that the American imperialists have lost their ”moral compass”, because they have not. They never had a moral compass, so they could not possibly have lost it.
It must be explained to working people that we live in a class society, and that those who own and control the factories, mills, mines, railroads, airlines, press and internet, are the capitalists, referred to as the bourgeois, and that those of us who work for them are workers, referred to as the proletarians. We are members of different classes, and our interests are diametrically opposed. This is to say that they are completely opposite. It is in the interest of the capitalists to work us as hard as possible, while paying us as little as possible, while it is in the interests of the workers to earn as much as possible. The capitalists are concerned with their profit, their ”bottom line”, while workers are concerned with putting food on the table.
The conditions of life of the working class do not lead to the awareness of itself as a class, so that this awareness must be brought to the proletariat. As the vast majority of working people are now concerned with the presidential election, now is the time to use this controversy as a means of raising their level of awareness.
We may also point out that the capitalists, the bourgeois, are careful to not use the word ”capitalism”. They refer to themselves as ”entrepreneurs”, as people engaging in ”free enterprise”, and the political system as that of ”democracy”.
There is a particle of truth to this, in that we indeed live in a democratic republic. It is indeed democracy, but democracy for the capitalists, the tiny minority of the population, the billionaires, the ”one percent”. For the working people, the proletariat, it is a dictatorship, the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
It may be objected that there are many capitalists who are not billionaires. That is true, and such small time capitalists, or middle class people, are referred to as petty bourgeois. They form a separate class, and are under increasing pressure, as the monopolies become ever stronger, ever more complete. Most of these ”small business owners” are now bankrupt, or in the process of going bankrupt. The current crises in capitalism are destroying this class, forcing the members of the middle class into the ranks of the proletariat.
The ”good news” is that the petty bourgeois is well aware of themselves as a class. In the process of being financially ruined, they are forced to abandon their hopes and dreams of becoming billionaires, members of the bourgeoisie. It is with bitterness and despair that they join the ranks of the proletariat, kicking and screaming, as it were, but joining the ranks nonetheless. They bring their awareness of the existence of classes with them.
Most of these people are well educated, aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. As such, it is the duty of these freshly minted proletarians to bring this class awareness to the working class.
As a means of encouragement, perhaps it would be best to bear in mind the words of Lenin, that which he refers to as the ”fundamental law of revolution”. He explains that a revolutionary situation is one in which ”the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way”. In addition, ”It is only when the ‘lower classes’ do not want to live in the old way and the ‘upper classes’ cannot carry on in the old way that the revolution can triumph”. (italics by Lenin) That is precisely the situation in which we now find ourselves!
At the risk of being accused of pointing out the obvious, even the most highly respected members of the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, have basically admitted that they can no longer rule in the old way. The two party system is being destroyed by Trump, one of their own, no less. They are now being forced to change their method of rule! They just have no idea what changes to enact.
The current crises in capitalism have served to not only devastate the middle class, but also to further impoverish the working class. Of course I am referring to the Corona virus, which has currently killed over 200,000 Americans, and that number is expected to double by the end of the year. As well, the stock market is expected to crash at any time, which will give rise to a second Great Depression. Countless people are out of work, with almost no prospects of a job. The ”economic stimulus checks” are about to expire. As soon as it becomes legal for landlords to issue eviction notices, the number of homeless is expected to skyrocket.
A similar situation existed in the ”dirty thirties”, at the time of the Great Depression. For no less than a decade, ten years, our grandparents suffered through unemployment, homelessness and starvation. The suffering of the working people was terrible, yet they failed to rise up in revolution. Part of the reason for this is because, as Engels pointed out, ”without a revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary motion”. The working people had no Marxist leaders!
It was Lenin who stressed the importance of the theoretical struggle, in his work, What Is To Be Done?, where he stated that the ”role of vanguard can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by an advanced theory.” (italics by Lenin) This is to stress the importance of a truly Marxist, Communist Party, one guided by the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. Without such a Communist Party to guide the working class, it is doubtful that the revolution can be successful.
The social chauvinists have a particular hatred for that article. It deserves careful study, as Lenin condemns those whom he refers to as ”Economists”. Such people claim to be socialists or Marxists, while arguing that working people should fight only for improved wages, living and working conditions. They disapprove of even any mention of the existence of classes!
As for those who are of the opinion that there is no harm is fighting for such paltry reforms, I can only respond that such a struggle will not lead to class consciousness. Of course they are important, mainly as a means of raising the level of awareness of the working class. I would even go so far as to say that the struggle to abolish the Electoral College, which I would classify as a political reform, is acceptable to the Economists, as such a political reform is not a threat to the rule of the capitalists.
Without doubt, the current situation is revolutionary, as the ruling class, the capitalists, cannot rule in the old way, and the working class is no longer content to be ruled in the old way. This does not necessarily guarantee the success of the revolution, as the working class is grossly contaminated with bourgeois ideology. As Lenin phrased it, ”to belittle socialist ideology in any way, to deviate from it in the slightest degree means strengthening bourgeois ideology.”(italics by Lenin)
The one and only way the revolution can succeed, to lead to a socialist republic, is to raise the level of awareness of the working class. The working class has to be made aware of itself as a class, a proletarian class, with its own class interests, as opposed to that of the capitalists, the bourgeois. They must be given the Marxist awareness, or as Lenin phrased it, ”A Marxist is one who extends the acceptance of the class struggle to the acceptance of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat”. (italics by Lenin)
It is now up to conscious people, Marxists, Communists, to raise the level of awareness of the working class, the proletariat. Such expressions as Scientific Socialism and Dictatorship Of the Proletariat must become common place, at least among the more advanced workers. In other words, preparations must be made for the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
It is very likely that a great many middle class people will consider this to be a none too subtle hint to get active, to take part in forming an American Communist Party. To such people I can only respond -guilty as charged. It may help to think of yourselves as the ”chosen ones”. You are aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin. You are also well aware that your dream of joining the ranks of the bourgeoisie have just evaporated. Even your former, rather comfortable middle class life style, is a thing of the past, never to return. In your ”previous life”, you were admired, well respected, a true professional. You never thought this could happen to you, yet here you are. You have been cast down, into the ranks of the proletariat, through no fault of your own. As bad as it is, you suspect that things are about to get worse, much worse. And you are right.
With your training and experience as a former middle class professional, you know well the mindset of the bourgeois. People are mere tools, to be used, until no longer needed, and then cast away. There is no room for sentiment in the world of business, of capitalism. There are only ”users” and the ”used”. You are now one of the used. Your world has just come crashing down. Your standard of living has just been reduced to nought. You are consumed with bitterness and frustration. Now is the time to choose between suicide, as many of your friends have, or you can choose the way of action.
You have an opportunity to make a huge difference, to take part in creating a better world. That better world is one of socialism, a world in which people do not stab each other in the back. A world of democracy for the working class, the proletariat, a world in which the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, are crushed under the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. It is a world which you can help to create, and one in which you will once again be admired and respected. The choice is yours.
With your talent, skills and training, you can take part in the creation of a truly American Communist Party, Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. As a member of the Communist Party, you can help to guide the revolution to a successful socialist republic. In the process, you will regain your self respect. It will restore purpose to your life. Bear in mind that three separate republics have already taken shape, and others will soon follow. They just need to be guided onto the proper socialist path.
The revolution is bound to break out any day now. Trump and his followers will see to that. There is no limit to their greed or their arrogance. The only thing they understand is brute force. Revolution is not the time or the place for the faint of heart, the squeamish. We can count on violence and bloodshed. This is not the time for pacifists. Only the determined, the resolute, need take part in the formation of the Communist Party. Only those who are prepared to lay down their lives for socialism, for a better future, for the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat.
The choice is yours.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 