Before We Start Celebrating

Sadly we are now defaulting to a version of "Anybody But Bush" with all the frenzy about "getting Him out of office" among liberal and progressives. The question of who will replace him is indeed germane since an answer to that requires that we either hitch ourselves back to the Democrats' wagon ("go Hillary in 2008") or turn our attention to the unalterable dynamics of this militaristic system that continies to spawn war across the globe.

If anything, New Orleans is a dress-rehearsal for martial law and you can bet your last dollar that teams upon teams are analysing everything that has surrounded New Orleans from this perspective. The calls for revamping FEMA, re-funding FEMA, or making FEMA "independent" will only result in tightening the noose arond dwindling civil rights. Recall, if you will, FEMA's main role is in effecting strategies for COG (Continuation of Government), which includes martial law, clampdowns on travel, finances, press-ganging workers, etc. People seem to have forgotten why FEMA was created in the first place.

We should take a hard look at all the salivating going on now that Bush is under some intense fire. We should also calm outselves down regarding the American press corps "finding a backbone" in the wake of Katrina. Remember, in politcs 101, the press is a tool of the state and the corporate interests. If Bush is under fire is has nothing to do with "backbone"; it has everything to do with the ruling class hedging its bets in case the Bush regime actually proves ineffective.

What we can take heart in is the incredible creativity and risk-taking among the people of New Orleans and surrounding environs in aiding each other, forming mutual aid groups, and finding the ways and means to make an intolerable situation more tolerable (press reports ignoring this nothwithstanding). These are the seeds of a democratic future, not figuring ways to "get Bush out."