“Integration, therefore, at this turn of the century, has become another promise, not exactly broken, but finagled to mean whatever does not cross the borders of white comfort. Perhaps separate can be equalized after all.” -- Greg Moses, Chapter 19, Civil Rights Down Through the Presidencies
“In the Clinton-Bush years, the number of incarcerated people per 100,000 US residents increased from 163 to 231. We hold the record in this category. The two parties do not differ on the issue of prisons, because both are wedded to corporate power, and the prisons, for that power, provide a vital service.” -- Vijay Prashad, Chapter 20, Capitalism’s Warehouses
“The Big Greens, all democrats, get defeated on forests every time and every time, it’s by a wider margin. Is it mere ineptness? Or, is something darker going on here? Is losing a reflex? Or are they throwing the game and blaming Bush and Republican ultras for their own political purposes?” -- Michael Donnelly, Chapter 11, One Wyden, Many Masters
The 2004 book, Dime’s Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils, is an extended attack on the democratic party and politicians, especially Bill Clinton. The book’s central thesis is that the republican party is awful but the democratic party is not much better. The book consists of 23 essays by various authors and was edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair. The book was published by CounterPunch, a left wing political website and magazine (mostly factual fact rating).
The authors build a case that economic, military and trade policy overlaps much more than it diverges. The books argues that the main difference between the parties is that the Republican party is open about its pro-corporate, homophobic and racist objectives, while the Democratic party deceives its constituents with lip service about human rights and and equality. The essay authors argue that progressive activists need to concentrate on building grassroots, participatory movements without reliance on party elites or leaders.
One example of the criticisms centers on how Clinton’s sex scandal accidentally wound up saving social security from privatization and subsequent private sector looting. Chapter 3, How Monica Lewinsky Saved Social Security, starts with this blast:
“Had it not been for Monica’s captivating smile and the first inviting snap of that famous thong, President Bill Clinton would have consummated the politics of triangulation, heeding the counsel of a secret White House team and deputy treasury secretary Larry Summers. Late in 1998, or in the State of the Union of 1999 a solemn Clinton would have told the congress and nation that, just like welfare, Social Security was near broke, and had to be ‘reformed’ and its immense pool of capital tendered in part to the mutual funds industry. .... But in 1998 the Lewinsky scandal burst upon the president .... [and] Clinton’s polls told him that his only hope was to nourish the widespread popular dislike for the hoity-toity elites intoning Clinton’s death warrant. In an instant Clinton spun on the dime and became Social Security’s mighty champion, coining the slogan ‘Save Social Security First.’”
Well, when one puts it that way, maybe Clinton was a bit too much like the republicans, deceitfully self-serving and callously laissez-faire capitalist.
From what I can tell, this book probably reflects the frustration of most true liberals with the democratic party. From this point of view, it is easier to understand why some people will not vote for Biden no matter what. The betrayals and lies the democrats have relied on are hard to take. For people who really do not believe that there are no meaningful major differences between the two parties, this book tries its very best to demolish that belief. And, it does a pretty good demolition job.
This book does make it harder to get past the lesser of evils argument to justify a Biden vote, but nonetheless 16 years later and under 2020 conditions, the lesser evil is still justifiable and a sound act.
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