I’m not Statesian (thank god!), but I’ve been paying some attention to Cornell West’s campaign since he announced it.
He’s not a Marxist, seems to be some kind of Christian socdem/demsoc, but I’ve noticed he’s pretty willing to denounce US imperialism, structural racism and genocidal practices. He seems to have gained some repercussion recently due to his support for Palestine, and he also has a history of cooperating with American Indigenous groups.
I know that the PSL has also announced their candidates (though tbh I haven’t heard much about them), but I want to start this discussion regarding the pragmatic decision to try and get West in one of the presidential debates.
I have no hopes of Statesians ever getting a Marxist from PSL there, but I think it’s in the realm of possibilities to have a third-party socdem to attack the DemRep duopoly for the sole purpose of building distrust from the population in both parties.
What do y’all think, does West deserve a little bit of critical support?
I strongly disagree with his choice to run as an independent (which came after his initial People’s Party run and then his opportunistic Green Party attempt, neither impressed me). He isn’t actually building a party apparatus and he isn’t in this race for any long-term gains, and that’s the only positive impact he could have. Without a labor party he’s just sucking up the oxygen from the possibility of actually becoming organized.
Fair enough, it makes sense. I guess it wouldn’t even be too harsh to say he’s basically fulfilling Bernie Sanders’s role from 2016/2020. Basically saying “there can be hope, but please don’t read Lenin or join one of the Marxist parties!”. It’s hard to have any hope for whatever will come out of the North in this electoral year.
I have hope that no candidate wins the popular vote, further delegitimizing the elections 😏