Letter to the editor

Democrats destroy election advantages

I felt it was unfortunate that there was not more coverage in the paper of the Rally in the River Valley in the week following the event. However, I was glad to see that Teresa Aviles chose to discuss it in last week’s issue.

As a member of Socialist Alternative, I was also glad that Mike Pearson chose to recognize us as an active organization that is willing to stand up for our beliefs.

Although they are out of context, I would also like to repeat the last ten words of his column: “Democrats, stop screwing this up for the rest of us!”

Ben Plunkett may be loud, but it’s the pro-corporate Democrats in Washington, currently symbolized by Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, who are steadily screwing up their party’s chances of a November victory.

John McCain runs even with Barack Obama and narrowly leads Hilary Clinton in the most recent Reuters/Zogby poll. America has a sitting Republican president with an approval rating, as recently as February, around 20 percent. Yet the Democrats always manage to destroy any advan- tage they have in the election.

The Democrats’ weakness comes directly from their balancing act between pro-worker rhetoric and a need to pander to big-business. The interests of the working-class and American corporations are contradictory. Short of a revolution, these class contradictions are most sharply brought to the forefront during a strike.

To start the discussion around the issues of organized labor and revitalizing the labor movement in the days leading up to May Day, Socialist Alternative will have a screening of the award-winning documentary “Harlan County USA.”

We will be showing the film Sunday at Hot Spot on Main Street. The film will begin at 7:30 p.m. The film and discussion are free and open to all students and community members.

Nick Shillingford, Student