Disagree on impeachment
You've lost me now with this impeachment nonsense. I swear
that the Militant denounced the whole "pornographication of
bourgeois politics" and explained that working people should
not fall into the trap of thinking that we should take a
position or invest any energy whatsoever in what I still
believe is a palace squabble.
In the January 18 issue, the editorial pronounces that "working people should oppose the attempt by rightist politicians to unseat [Clinton]...." Since when does the Militant uncritically repeat the political line of the Clintons themselves? Since when does it think there is any substantial difference between the wings of the ruling party?
Buchanan wants working people to vilify Clinton's morals, but how is taking a position supporting Clinton against such attacks helpful to the working class? Why should we care what happens to Clinton and liberalism?
Most people to whom I talk believe that the U.S. ruling party (both wings) does not represent their interests and that this latest "scandal" is not surprising. But to move from general feelings of disgust, amusement, and powerlessness to an understanding that people like Buchanan are using Clinton's mistakes as cover for rolling back our rights and that we need our own labor party is a huge leap of faith.
Ian Harvey
Naples, Florida
Crisis for farmers, workers
A recent "Commentary" column by the editors of Business
Week appeared in the magazine's international edition and was
reprinted as an advertisement on the op-ed page of the
January 23 New York Times. Titled, "Latin America: The Fire
Next Time?," the editors write, "...the larger reasons for
failed IMF policies in Brazil are these: We live in a
deflationary world - defined by overcapacity and insufficient
demand.... If local and global demand had been large enough
to consume the output of Asia's factories back in 1997, trade
deficits would not have been developed, debts would have been
paid and currencies would not have come under pressure."
These defenders of capitalism use the word "demand" in a particular way. As an example one might cite the terrible food shortages for working people in Indonesia (to name just one country).
Meanwhile grain elevators across the United States are full and getting fuller. Rail workers like myself can testify that grain shipments by rail for export to Asia from the Port of Seattle have dried up over the last year or more. The explanation is not lack of "demand." Rather, it is the profit system that will only satisfy that demand if the price is right. Farmers and workers on both sides of the ocean suffer the consequences.
Geoff Mirelowitz
Seattle, Washington
Health-care crisis
Four years ago a Boston Globe reporter died at the Dana
Farber Cancer Institute as a result of a chemotherapy
overdose. The doctor who wrote the erroneous order was
suspended and systems problems were appropriately blamed for
the tragedy. However, this month 18 nurses at Dana Farber
have been charged with negligence related to this episode by
the Board of Registration in Nursing.
At the same time, Cathleen Kyle, who worked at Mass General Hospital for 10 years, filed suit claiming she was fired because she was a "whistleblower," calling attention to unsafe conditions as a result of cutbacks and staffing shortages.
Having recently had cardiac surgery, I can attest to the problems exposed by Kyle. Long waits for nursing assistance, a premature discharge, refusal to be readmitted as recommended by the visiting nurse all illustrate the effects of the cutbacks and the resultant shift of responsibility for care to patients and their families.
These problems produced by layoffs of health-care personnel, cutbacks in resources, and premature discharges are occurring at hospitals all over the country. An integral aspect of the employer's offensive against the standard of living of working people is to lay the blame on the workers if anything goes wrong, whether it's a hospital, school, factory, mine, or mill. Working people need to fight back against this scapegoating and learn in the process that it's the bosses and their system that's the source of the deepening crisis we face.
Gary Cohen
Arlington, Massachusetts
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