Revolution #155, February 8, 2009
“Peaceful Transition”…
Or a History Full of
Wars and Plunder?
In her welcoming remarks at the January 20 inauguration of Barack Obama, Senator Dianne Feinstein said:
“The world is watching today as our great democracy engages in this peaceful transition of power. Here on the National Mall, where we remember the founders of our Nation and those who fought to make it free, we gather to etch another line in the solid stone of history.
The freedom of a people to choose its leaders is the root of liberty. In a world where political strife is too often settled with violence, we come here every four years to bestow the power of the Presidency upon our democratically elected leader.
Those who doubt the supremacy of the ballot over the bullet can never diminish the power engendered by nonviolent struggles for justice and equality like the one that made this day possible. No triumph tainted by brutality could ever match the sweet victory of this hour and of what it means to those who marched and died to make it a reality.”
We have two points in reply to this bullshit from Dianne Feinstein:
First, the history of the United States since its foundation has been filled with wars, including a major civil war to hold the country together under the rule of the bourgeoisie. In that war, the equivalent (relative to today’s U.S. population) of around 6 million people were killed!
Second, the history of the U.S. is replete with other wars (including world wars), plunder, and exploitation. If you are plundering, exploiting, and murdering people by the millions and hundreds of millions, then maybe it’s not so hard for different factions of the ruling class to hand power back and forth to each other without having to kill each other in the process!
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