I was raised in a staunchly Democratic household, with the belief that the Democrats were champions of the working class and poor across America. I was told that if it weren’t for the Republicans interfering with things, my family would be better off.
As I got older I began to wonder: if the Democrats were really the party that represented the working-class majority, how could Bush have won the 2000 election? How could it have even been close? And why, since Clinton was in power for most of my childhood, did my mother have to hold down two jobs just to make ends meet? How did his election platform of “putting people first” measure up with the reality of NAFTA and other anti-worker policies?
One year into Barack Obama’s presidency millions across the country are asking themselves the same questions I asked myself in the early years of the decade. On almost every issue, this country’s two establishment parties find themselves on the same side – that of corporate interests and the super-rich.
I am a socialist because I understand now that if working people are going to make real social gains, we can’t rely on corporate politicians to give them to us – we have to fight for these gains ourselves. Fighting for a socialist world, where the vast resources of society are made to serve the
needs of the majority, is the logical conclusion of that realization.
