The U.S. Election Process
Reaches a Turning-Point
by Jeffrey SteinbergFive months from its Presidential Election Day, the United States and its electorate is in a state of political turmoil, the outcome of which is yet to be determined. The two principal issues defining this turmoil are:
- The plummeting of support and credibility of both the Presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John Kerry;
- The onrushing world depression, which will hit, with full force, sometime during the next 30-60 days.
As the result of these dramatic developments, no one can predict who, at this point, will win the Democratic Party Presidential nomination for 2004. The political situation in the United States has changed dramatically since that period, from the Iowa caucuses through Super Tuesday, when the apparent decision was made that John Kerry would be the Democratic Party's Presidential nominee. That decision was based on an avoidance of the most fundamental issues facing the nation and the world.
Now, those issues—and especially the $42 barrel of oil and the deepening crisis in Iraq—are unavoidable.
This is a completely different world than the one that existed on Jan. 1, 2004. Every fundamental assumption about the 2004 elections that prevailed during the period from January through March 2004, has got to be scrapped. There are those who will, out of criminal stupidity, attempt to adjust to this new reality, by promoting a John McCain Vice Presidential option for Kerry. This would be the worst disaster imaginable, drawing the worst elements of the Republican Party behind the Democratic ticket, and alienating those who have broken, decisively, with Bush-Cheney.
The biggest shocks are yet to come. Expect new dramatic events over the months of June and July.
Iraq Crisis Far From Over
One arena for major shocks will be Iraq. The mask has been dropped from Vice President Dick Cheney's policies. Events at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere have exposed just how accurate candidate Lyndon LaRouche was, with the "Beast-Man" theme of the Children of Satan II report, which his campaign has circulated massively and in several languages, since March. It is well understood among the military, diplomats, and intelligence agencies, as well as among others, that the pattern of crimes now called "Abu Ghraib" went far beyond a few prisons, and has had a devastating impact on the potential for the United States to have a positive impact on world affairs. But the crisis is far from over, because, as LaRouche has emphasized, the Beast-Man mentality comes straight from the Vice-President's office on down, and those military and intelligence professionals who had kept quiet about the crimes that were going on, are now, in effect, collaborating with LaRouche in exposing the authors of these crimes. The leaks are not going to stop until their real authors are exposed, and likely out of the Administration altogether.
Earthquake tremors have to be expected as well in the area of the economic-financial collapse. It is the estimate of knowledgeable insiders that the world's central bankers are in virtually constant secret discussion, trying to ensure that the bankruptcy of the major banks does not come to the surface. Try to paper it over until after the election, they say. Contingency plan after contingency plan is being devised, in anticipation of a housing blowout, or a derivatives blowout, or perhaps a major default by a developing sector nation.
There is no way that these earthshaking developments are not going to affect the U.S. Presidential election process. Members of both parties have already been speaking openly about their dissatisfaction with the heads of the tickets. It is no secret that there is no leadership outside of that being exercised by LaRouche and the forces collaborating with him. If Bush and Kerry continue to flounder in front of the crises which are threatening the nation, no one can rule out a dramatic rearrangement of the political chessboard.
As a de facto member of the broadly defined institution of the Presidency, Lyndon LaRouche knows about these developments and options—from the inside. At this time, he is not at liberty to publicly comment on them. But it is essential that everyone recognizes—and acts on—the reality: The outcome of the November elections cannot be known at this time, and anyone who claims to know what is going to happen, or who the candidates are going to be, is lying.
This is LaRouche's assessment from the inside of this fight.
The world will be a very different place following the Democratic convention in Boston at the end of July. It may be better, it may be worse. That is still unknown. But it will be different.
What is urgently needed, during this immediate period ahead, is the implementation of LaRouche's Doctrine for peace in Southwest Asia, and his New Bretton Woods. Nothing short of such a strategic shift in policy paradigm can efficiently address the onrushing events. Faced with the potential for the outbreak of an Armageddon, brought on by Vice President Cheney's flight forward into more wars, or by the implosion of the world monetary system, sane political leaders will be thinking in the direction of such bold moves.
We have reached an historic fork in the road. The fate of all mankind depends upon which direction Americans take in the decisive election of 2004.
