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For months now the Democratic Party primaries have captured the attention
of millions in the United States, stirring hopes that January 2009
could be a new day for government, including, most prominently,
enacting a swift end to the war in Iraq.
However, as congressional debate over war funding unfolds, hopeful onlookers
are witnessing a perplexing spectacle: The very party claiming to fight
for a withdrawal of U.S. troops now proposes to give $70 billion more
for the war than the president they hold responsible for its
continuation. In response, Bush promises to veto any increase above his
proposed $108 billion war budget.
In November 2006 Americans turned out in record to numbers to vote a
party into Congress that they expected to end the war. Only months
after taking majorities in both houses, the Democrats feigned
opposition with a couple of legislative tricks, and then funded the
war’s escalation. Public approval of Congress’s handling of the war
dropped to 15 percent in June 2007, and in July approval fell to 3
percent.
Once again, the ruling parties are attempting to divert the discontent
of working people caused by the rapidly growing crisis of capitalism
into support for a different representative of the capitalist class.
While the candidates use different packaging and sometimes a different
strategy, they all defend the same interests with equal ruthlessness.
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