World of Nations by Christopher Lasch

Author:Christopher Lasch [Lasch, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83058-6
Publisher: Random House Inc.
Published: 2012-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

4

LEST THE ASTONISHING RISE OF GEORGE MCGOVERN BE TAKEN AS A demonstration of the wisdom of social democratic strategies and of the possibility that socialists might be able to constitute themselves as the left wing of the Democratic Party, it is necessary to remind ourselves that McGovern’s election would hardly mark the beginning of a peaceful transition to democratic collectivism. The importance of McGovern lies in the fact that he won the Democratic nomination, in spite of the combined opposition of the party chiefs and the labor bureaucrats, by appealing directly to the belief of many people that their officially constituted representatives are no longer responsive to their needs. More than the issue of tax reform, more even than his unyielding opposition to the war, the issue of “credibility” worked in McGovern’s favor.

Having won the nomination, his only hope of election was to continue to exploit this issue and to identify himself with a growing revolt against the political establishment. He could not have hoped to win either the nomination or the election in the ordinary way. Events after California made this doubly clear. After McGovern’s victory there, normal political decencies demanded that Muskie endorse McGovern and that the party close ranks behind the front-runner, who had far outdistanced the competition. Their refusal to do so, even in the face of the virtual certainty of McGovern’s nomination, shows that the party leaders are unreconciled to their defeat and that they may prefer the entire party’s defeat to the election of a candidate who wrested the nomination without their approval. McGovern’s attempts to reassure the party bosses were for the most part rudely rebuffed; in their eyes he was another Goldwater, an “extremist” with no chance of election.

The irony was that the Democrats’ only chance of returning to power was precisely to identify themselves with the disaffection abroad in the country. In a conventional campaign—the only kind the Democratic leadership knows how to organize—Nixon held all the cards. Running as a great international statesman and peacemaker, Nixon could win on the strength of his ceremonial diplomacy, while confining his campaign to equally empty and ceremonial appearances. Faced, however, with an opponent who was determined to make an issue of the war, the economy, and governmental “credibility” in general, Nixon might have reverted to his former style, thereby confirming the long-standing popular suspicion that tricky Dick is not a man you can trust. To put the matter more broadly, the Democrats in 1972 could nullify the advantages inherent in controlling the presidency only by appealing directly to popular discontent.

But since this also meant reorganizing the party itself, the Democratic leaders could hardly be expected to participate enthusiastically in such a campaign. McGovern would have had to win the presidency the same way he won his party’s nomination—on his own, with his own organization, and with only perfunctory support from the unions and the party hierarchy.

A McGovern victory on these terms—here we come to the nub of the matter—would have created a significant opening in American politics.

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