Letter from the US: The Republicans' two conventions

August 28, 1996
Issue 

Letter from the US. By Barry Sheppard

The Republicans' two conventions

By Barry Sheppard

The convention of the Republican Party was really two conventions: one for the party's extreme right wing, and the other a carefully orchestrated television event to launch Bob Dole's election campaign.

The first convention was the only one in which the delegates had any say. This convention centred on the party's platform. By threatening to create a floor fight around the issue of abortion, and thus project an image of a party divided against itself, the extreme right wing was able to get its way and foist upon the party a platform even more to the right than the one adopted for the 1992 convention.

The key question was whether the platform would retain the plank against abortion in all circumstances, including the cases where a pregnancy was due to rape or incest, or even if the life of the mother was threatened.

Dole has long held the position that he is opposed to abortion, except in the above circumstances. In the months leading up to the convention, he sought to soften the party's image on abortion by suggesting that the platform include a statement to the effect that the Republican Party included pro-choice people as well as the "pro-lifers".

This was not acceptable to the Christian Coalition and the supporters of fascist-minded Patrick Buchanan. This right wing was represented disproportionately among the delegates, because it could mobilise more activists to participate in the delegate-selecting caucuses.

Dole then capitulated on the platform, to the extent that Buchanan could claim a "victory" and for the first time give his endorsement of Dole in the upcoming elections.

This first convention lasted one day. Then those who really control the Republican Party — not the delegates — took over and staged a series of speeches over the rest of the convention that made the party look more moderate. Delegates could no longer take the floor.

Dole himself stated that "had not read" the platform, and was "not bound by it". This is true concerning the platforms of both Democrats and Republicans. Candidates of both parties disregard their party's platforms, which figure very little in election campaigns.

A featured speaker was Colin Powell, the retired general and "hero" of the Gulf War. An African-American, Powell reiterated his stand for affirmative action for minorities and women, and his pro-choice opinion. Both positions contradict the party's platform.

The TV networks played along with the charade, broadcasting the speeches lauding Dole and trying to give an impression of the convention as more mainstream than the actual composition of the delegates. For example, while only 3% of the delegates were people of colour, the TV cameras kept focusing on these faces.

From the point of view of the ruling class, the Republican Party was in danger of being seen as the captive of the extreme right, which could have meant that it would become marginalised. This would not have been good for the two-party system.

So the net result of these manoeuvres was that the party was able to placate the Christian Coalition, whose members form a key section of the party's activists, while at the same time projecting a more moderate image to mainstream voters.

Dole is now campaigning on his economic proposals, which consists of cutting taxes and at the same time balancing the federal budget. His proposed tax cuts would favour the rich, naturally, but he hopes to win some support among working people with a 15% cut for everyone's income taxes.

His choice of Jack Kemp as his candidate for vice president underscores Dole's plan. While Dole has been an advocate of budget balancing as the priority, not tax cutting, before this new flip flop, Kemp has been known as an advocate of cutting taxes and the budget be damned.

All of this doesn't amount to much, but it does bring both parties even closer in terms of their actual policies. Both are hell-bent on driving down the social wage through massive cuts in social programs. The bipartisan passage of the new welfare bill, which ends the government's commitment to maintain a safety net for the poor, is an illustration.

Both parties seek to drive down the wages of working people, break the unions and restrict democratic rights, but they want to do it in such a way as to avoid a massive reaction. So both seek to put up a "friendly" facade while pressing ahead with the ruling class's agenda.

Perot

While the Republican convention was going on, Ross Perot's Reform Party was nominating him. The Texas billionaire's bought and paid for party has some support, reflecting the growing discontent with the two major capitalist parties and the two-party system.

The labour movement, however, with the important exception of those who formed the Labor Party, remains tied to the Democrats in spite of that party's dramatic move to the right. Since the Labor Party is not yet in a position to run candidates, there is no major challenge to the two-party system from the left in this election.

A significant, though decidedly minority, campaign is being waged by Ralph Nader, whom the Greens officially endorsed in August. Nader's campaign focuses on the corporate domination of the two major parties and of society as a whole, and calls for a break with the two-party system. Nader is a member and supporter of the Labor Party.

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