We jumped off of the election victory right back into the middle of the global financial crisis. While we have a president that has openly supported workers against corporations and banks, we still have a financial system run amuck where working people foot the bill with our homes, our schools, and our jobs (or lack thereof).
Still, the parameters of what is necessary to turn the country around have been hugely expanded as so-called mainstream economists call for “at-least partial” nationalization of failing banks and companies like Ford and General Motors. Middle America grapples both publicly at town halls and privately at the dinner table about what a “just economy” would look like, all but defining a fetal path to socialism.
Legislation supporting gay rights is passing despite the defeat in California in states such as Iowa and Vermont. And I was just informed that the Presbyterian Church USA approved the ordination of gay ministers.
For the past 7 years, the Bush Administration has led an on-going "war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan. While we condemn terrorism, both individual acts and state sanctioned, we oppose the continued US occupation of these countries.
The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States will forever be known as a major turning point, not only in US history, but in the history of the western nations and of the world. Although Obama’s election is no defeat of capitalism, it represents a changing tide in our on-going struggle for democratic rights, and a step forward in our long-term struggle for socialism. Obama’s election and the landslide victory over the Ultra-Right in Congress create the conditions for new advances for equality and democracy generally
As expected, the upcoming 2008 Elections have already taken center stage, and nearly every issue we struggle for hinges on them in some way. Now we have the opportunity not only to strengthen the Democratic majority, but also to elect a Democrat as president—setting a real path to end the war, secure jobs, and improve access to quality schools.
Our country began 2007 on better ground than many have experienced in a very long time; than some of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes. The November Congressional Election yielded results even the most optimistic of us had not suspected with the ultra-right losing the majority in both the House and in the Senate. We know that this is simply a small step in preparing our own path to socialism.Communists have a clear role to play.
The YCL can be proud that all over the country our comrades gave their all, dedicating time and energy to organizing, educating and mobilizing young voters in our communities and on our campuses. Our midwest project sent dozens of young people to work in the battleground states and get a real hands on education about electoral politics and geting out the vote. We helped elect several local candidates, registered hundreds of young voters and built important relationships with other young people and youth organizations fighting to defeat Bush. This was no small accomplishment!
The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was far from natural. Poor and working people were horribly affected by the racist and criminal neglect and failure to respond to this disaster and deliver emergency services to those who needed it most. In addition decades of disastrous socio-economic policies of social divestment and environmental degradation only opened the door for the tremendous damage and loss of life that was wrought by both hurricane’s Katrina and Rita. As money continues to poor into paying for the war and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the struggle for adequate funding to rebuild the Gulf Region underscores the need to fight for peace and a fundamental change in our national priorities
Young people face the greatest threats from the war, both at home and in the battlefield. The Young Communist League, has joined young people in resisting the militaristic foreign policy of the Bush administration from the beginning.
We live only two generations after racial segregation laws were outlawed in this country. We are only a few more generations removed from chattel slavery. Racial and gender disparities still abound in nearly every aspect of our society. Yet the Supreme Court took up a case this past summer to test the constitutionality of affirmative action in higher education admissions.
Immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, George Bush gave his now famous ultimatum: "You are either with us, or against us," meaning you either support US imperialism and the murderous aggressive war Bush would soon initiate or you support the criminal and inhuman attacks of September 11.
The terrorist attacks of September 11 took thousands of innocent lives; women and men of all races, nationalities, classes, and faiths. Those responsible for this crime against humanity must be brought to justice. But these attacks did more than kill, they created a dangerous atmosphere in the world. Now the US government is unleashing its own terror on the rest of the world in the name of making the world safe.
It is increasingly clear that the Bush Administration is dead set on invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein despite U.S. and international law, domestic or foreign opposition. This new
escalation of thewar on terroris is the most dangerous step yet by the Bush administration, which has put the world closer to global conflict than at any time in a generation.
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