It is a reflection of the power of 21st century Empire that the American presidential election is the biggest news story on the planet. Wherever one lives, images and newspaper headlines chronicling the campaigns of Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin dominate, regardless of whether we want these distant individuals -- and their often mind-numbing rhetoric -- to take over our public sphere.
After eight years of Bushism, one might be forgiven for feeling relief that someone else is going to win on November 8. If at the turn of the century there was already enormous injustice and insecurity in the world, after two terms in power for one of the most rabidly conservative regimes in the history of the United States, things have gotten much, much worse.
Iraq, home to one of the oldest known civilisations of the world, has been destroyed, while the region in which we live has been badly brutalised, with the prospects of peace much more remote than in 2001.
More generally, governments around the world have criminalised dissent under the guise of fighting 'terror', economic want and deprivation have increased dramatically, and an unprecedented gap in communication has opened up between western and non-western societies. These are only some of the gifts bequeathed to the world by the 'leadership' of George W Bush and his team of neo-cons. Even if things do not get much better under the new president, surely they cannot get much worse!
Within America, and particularly among youth, much has been made of the 'change' agenda of Barack Obama. If he were to become the president, the long-suffering non-white minorities of the United States would score a highly symbolic victory. Of course, over the next couple of decades, the non-white population will come to rival that of white America, but nonetheless it is the latter that remains economically, politically and culturally dominant, and the election of a non-white president would represent somewhat of a challenge to the white establishment.
However, it is important not to overstate the role that someone like Barack Obama could play within the given structure of power. Even in a presidential system of government, such as America's, the president cannot act with impunity. At the very least, he would be answerable to his party.
Those familiar with the two-party system in the US are well aware that Democratic Party is, at best, less reactionary than its Republican counterpart, and represents only a slight leftward shift along the political spectrum, which does not mean 'leftist' by any stretch of the imagination.
Even if one were to leave open the possibility that an Obama-led Democratic Party would improve the situation of working people -- particularly coloured people -- within the US, the fact remains that America's posture as the world bully is not going to change.
It is now easy to forget that it was the Bill Clinton administration that started the 'cold war' against Iraq in the form of a deadly embargo. When Clinton's Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked about the embargo-induced death of 500,000 Iraqi children, she categorically stated that the administration had no qualms about the human costs of the policy.
The Democratic Party will be less brazen in its dealings with the rest of the world than the neo-con lobby within the Republican Party, it will emphasise 'nation-building' as opposed to rely entirely on 'shock and awe', and it will be less influenced by the demands of the immensely powerful munitions industry. However, it will still be committed to imperial goals. After the erosion of American financial power, these goals will be increasingly expressed in the form of military power.
If John McCain wins the White House, there is little reason to believe that even a small shift will take place in Washington's policies. McCain has tried to distance himself from the Bush administration in the final weeks of his campaign, but this does not mean that there is a significant difference in the politics of either Republican camp. In fact, the chances are that McCain will retain many Bush appointees in some shape or form and reinforce the neo-con thrust.
All told, after eight years of Bush, the teeming billions all over the world are likely to get more of the same. While it is important to recognise the differences that result from a change in government, it is just as important to understand the entrenched structural forces that remain at work regardless of who is in government. Perhaps the best example of how little difference there is between the incumbent regime in Washington and the two individuals who seek to succeed it is the financial meltdown on Wall Street.
For the 10 days or so when Congress was debating the $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street, both Obama and McCain were indistinguishable in terms of their policy direction.
Both clearly avoided any 'controversial' statements, which might have alienated them from the political establishment, corporate media or financial oligarchs. They did not question the logic of government spending three-quarters of a trillion dollars to 'instill confidence' into financial institutions that had engaged in reckless debt-creation, let alone ask whether financial capitalism was good for the people of the US or the world.
Therein lies the crux of the matter. Obama and McCain do not represent a departure from the commitment to a capitalist world order in which the US is top dog, moneymaking is God, and people are increasingly viewed as automatons that function as workers who produce goods and services, or mindless consumers that buy them.
In this worldview, the natural world is to be manipulated at an even more breathless rate than it has to date, with little or no concern for longer-term impacts that can now be quite accurately predicted. And the predictions are very clearly dire.
The US has been the undisputed ruler of the world since 1990, and some would argue since the end of the First World War. In this period, humanity has seen unprecedented progress but also unprecedented destruction. Objectively speaking, the vast majority of people around the world have been a victim of the destruction, rather than beneficiaries of progress. What bigger indictment could there be of the leader of the 'free world' than this?
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