[r a n d o m h u m a n]

Not really though. I didn’t bother watching the US presidential debates, if they were even aired over here, but I’m sure this sums them up pretty well.

For those of you who don’t want to wait for the above video clip to download, it basically consists of 5 minutes of hums and haws from George Bush. It made me embarrassed for him.

On the other hand, it makes me wonder if he actually made his points more clearly in the debates, but this nicely spliced together clip only shows the stuttering he did before he figured out what he wanted to say. I don’t wonder too hard though, because I think the guy’s an idiot anyway.

What I really want to know is where the hell was Nader? Who organises these things that can get away with completely ignoring one of the candidates? Must be that damn liberal media…

Well it looks like the US occupation of Iraq is coming apart at the seams. Bush’s approval rating are even down to (gasp!) 44%. Will Donald Rumsfeld be able to squirm his way out of some very hot water?? Will George succeed once again in duping the American public?? Could rigging the elections work a second time around??

Find out next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel…

Another member of the socialist party voiced doubts to me today, although his reasons were somewhat different from mine. I’m moving towards a less ideology based, but still socialist conception of politics, he’s leaning more towards a liberal-left position because of what he’s been learning on his course. He no longer sees the need or inevitability of revolution. I would still hold that revolution is the only permanent and acceptable solution to the worlds problems, I just see a different way of bringing it about than the SP.

I’m a member of the socialist party, but increasingly I’m starting to think that I’m just not a marxist. To some extent it’s because I think that power structures are inherently a bad thing. Any member of the SP would tell you that it’s a democratic organization, and in many ways it is, but only within the party itself, with little hope that it will ever allow democracy to conflict with its ideology. Which brings me to my second point, which concerns the limits that ideology places on everything. The left is made up of a myriad of conflicting ideologys and movements, just as our society and culture is, but even with that conflict there are common goals and complimentary actions, which are often hindered by dogma and ideology. The SP has one goal: to build the party in preperation for an eventual revolution (taken to be inevitable). In pursuing this goal they frown upon all ideas and action which don’t fit neatly with their own. They don’t seek to empower people in a general way, or build structures and resources which will, they don’t seek to build democratic alternatives to the cultural and societal systems that oppress us at the moment.

They do do some good work, especially with some of the poorest sections of society, but their tactics and ideas are uninspiring and outdated. Besides, how can I be involved with a group that has such a crappy website?