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especially between U.S. and European politicians, but also between a country like Spain and, say, Chile, where something similar happened in the last election--the socialist party (Michele Batchelet, president) was voted out in favor of a rightwing billionaire, due to the "centrism" of the socialist party and failure to attract enough young voters (according to some analysts). The thinking of some is that this would provide an opportunity to liven up the socialist party and push it to the left (more representative of the majority in the country). The rightwing billionaire, Sebastián Piñera, has made a botch of it and now has something like a 25% approval rating (Batchelet had something like an 80% approval rating, personally, when she left office, though her designated successor lost to Piñera). A huge and vibrant, and far left, student movement has arisen to oppose Piñera.
It looks like comparison with Chile is in order. In both places, the leftist leaders went too far to the right (the rich and the corporate). Batchelet's personal popularity was unable to do the Chilean socialists any good, as to winning elections. Zapatero is not that popular and the socialist party in addition yielded to all this "austerity" nonsense promulgated by the rich and are being deservedly punished by the voters. The right will likely fail in Spain as well. ("Austerity" and the rich getting richer couldn't be more wrong amidst this Bushwhack Depression!). More and even bigger protests are likely. However, it may not matter to the rich how much their bought and paid for leaders anger the poor and the working class and their advocates. The rich, worldwide, are in a panic and, as long as they have the length of another presidential term to loot everybody some more, they can't and don't think beyond that. I think it's true, here and there, that we have entirely lost a "responsible" upper class--rich people loyal to their country and their people and to society as a whole.
Spain has some wildcards that Chile doesn't have--for instance, the Catalans who did very well. They are leftists but with their own regionalist agenda. So it seems like Spanish voters rejected the "center-right" establishment socialist party, for good reason, but didn't have a unified alternative to vote for, so the right won the presidency. In Chile, on the other hand, the socialist party is seen as a viable vehicle for organizing the poor and workers and their advocates--they just need to do it.
Another difference is that Latin America is a rip-roaring leftist region now, with many leaders who have rejected U.S. domination and the U.S. "Wall Street" model of the rich grinding the poor into the dust. So Chile--although often enough an outlier in regional politics (Batchelet was exceptional in her support of other leftist leaders)--needs to get along well with strong leftist leaders in neighboring countries and in the region. Europe's leftists--at least the establishment leftists--seem a very weak force, compared to the combo of leftists Rouseff in Brazil, Chavez in Venezuela, Morales in Bolivia, Correa in Ecuador, Humala in Peru, Fernandez in Argentina, Mujica in Uruguay and Lugo in Paraguay--a really kickass bunch of leaders who are cooperating with each other. And these days even Santos in the U.S. client state of Colombia in sounding like a leftist on some issues (he has promised universal health care by next year and has even said he might go along with legalizing drugs).
In Europe, you have the elite technocrats of the EU running things and serving the rich--and establishment leftists bending over for them. In Latin America, you have innovative and visionary people running things and serving the poor majority. So Chileans have more incentive to get with the social justice program that has resulted in so many leftist victories--after the fiasco of Pinera. Spain doesn't have that example of nearly the whole continent going kickass leftist and SUCCEEDING economically by NOT TAKING Wall Street's devious advice.
Comparison with the U.S. is even more problematic. I do have the haunting feeling that the failure of the Limp Left here is part of a far rightwing/Corporate playbill that will be enacted by Diebold/ES&S next year with their 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines (all over the U.S.). It's possible that Obama was just a stand-in, to shift blame for everything to the Democrats, to make a Bush Junta return in 2012 more plausible. They CAN do it. That's what this egregiously non-transparent vote counting system was set up TO DO. The only question is "When?" (Or rather, the only question is the presidency. The far right--to which ES&S, which bought out Diebold, is very close--has already obviously stolen Congress.)
I don't know anything about Spain's vote counting system but I'd guess that it's fair to good on the matter of honest, transparent elections. I've wondered about Chile, but people who know seem to think their election system is okay--and it certainly is in most of South America and parts of Central America. Here, though, it is the worst. Our system is very, VERY riggable.
This makes it difficult to compare our situation with any other country in the democratic world. We have not done our civic homework, as Latin Americans and Europeans have mostly done, to ensure the bottom line of democracy: vote counting in the PUBLIC venue. There is not an office holder in this country--including Obama--who can prove that he or she was actually elected.
What the people want is irrelevant here, in my opinion. Tolerances for oppression may be craftily gaged, as our corporate rulers and war profiteers determine what to do to us and how much trouble they want to deal with, and in what timeframes. But what we want is NEVER "on the table." They fear us. They do. But they've also had a lot of success selling us excrement--that is, they loathe us--and what is good for most of us and for the country is simply not a consideration, as to who will front their tyranny.
This is not the case in Chile and in most of Latin America and it is not the case in Europe. The Corporate Elite has lost its vulture grasp on Latin America and its hold on Europe is shaky. I think that Spain's left will re-group and start cooperating and will re-invigorate itself, and so will Chile's. Here we don't have any chance of it--nor of any reform whatsoever--until we get rid of the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines.
We also have the problem of the Corporate Two-Party System's lock on power--a problem that was among the very first that Latin American leftist activists addressed. (They solved it, in some cases, by rewrites of their constitution, which is almost impossible to do here but quite common in Latin America.) The Corporate Media and the filthy Corporate campaign contribution system will solve themselves once we restore transparent vote counting and become able to elect true representatives. Latin America has worse Corporate Media than we do, and billions of our tax dollars infused into their elections always on the rightwing side--and look what they've been able to do!
But having two Corporate Parties is a very big obstacle. I think we have little choice but to work within the Democratic Party and reclaim it for the people. It was the party of the New Deal. It can be again-- once we have restored TRANSPARENT vote counting--a very important key to the fabulous success of the left in Latin America.
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