For over two years, the Bush administration pretended that opposition to the occupation of Iraq was non-existent. Now, a mother of a U.S. solider killed in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, through her determination to camp outside Bush’s ranch has forced the Bush administration into a huddle about how to respond. Her action has reignited the antiwar movement, with 50-100,000 people attending antiwar candle-lit vigils across the country on August 17.

These developments have brought to the surface the growing anger at Bush. Polls show only 34% approve of Bush’s management of the conflict in Iraq. 54% say sending troops into Iraq was a “mistake.”

56% support withdrawing some U.S. troops from Iraq; 33% favor a complete withdrawal, double the level from 2003. Only 28% said the war in Iraq has made Americans safer from terrorism.

This new mood was shown in the special election in the 2nd congressional district in Southern Ohio. Democratic Party candidate and Iraq veteran Paul Hackett, making antiwar criticisms of Bush, was only narrowly defeated 52%-48% in a seat where the incumbent Republican candidate had never received less than 72% in the last seven elections! This followed the recent death in Iraq of 15 young marines from Ohio in recent days.

Bush’s overall approval rating has fallen sharply, to under 40% compared to 88% after 9/11. Only 48% of the country now thinks he is “honest.” 59% are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. No wonder, with the economy debt-ridden and on the edge of a new economic recession.

Bush’s flagship policy, privatization of part of Social Security, remains grounded, with the support of only 33% of the public. These developments confirm the analysis we have put forward in Justice, that the reelection of Bush did not signify a turn to the right in the U.S. but instead showed the failure of John Kerry and the Democratic Party to effectively tap into the widespread anger at Bush because of their big business, conservative character.

Bush’s weakness was also shown by his failure to follow through on expectations that he would nominate a clearly provocative right-wing anti-abortion ideologue for the vacant Supreme Court seat, as he did in a number of other federal court appointments. Instead, Bush’s nominee, John Roberts, is more of a “stealth” candidate with a limited judicial paper trail. This has resulted in large sections of the Democratic Party leadership offering little serious opposition against his nomination as we approach the Senate hearings. In reality, however, Roberts has a solidly right-wing record, which is becoming clearer as almost every day brings new revelations of his right wing positions.

Underlying Bush’s falling poll numbers is a growing unease and anger at policies that rewarded one class of Americans – the CEO’s and corporate billionaires who have reaped an economic windfall in the last few decades. At the same time, ordinary hard-working Americans have seen their situation stagnating or going backwards.

Take the issues of wages, access to quality healthcare or child care, quality of life, taxes, and most immediately who is serving and dying in this war, and it is clear there are two Americas. Can you imagine CEO Bill Gates, Republican George Bush, or Democrats John Kerry or Hillary Clinton eating at McDonald’s, worrying about how to pay household bills, or unable to buy new clothes for their kids? Just posing this question is enough to show the gulf between the class of the wealthy elites and ordinary working-class people.

Organizing a Fight-Back
Following Bush’s “reelection” in November, there was an ebb in struggles given the widespread despondency among activists who had mistakenly pinned their hopes on John Kerry. But now there are a number of signs which indicate this is beginning to fade. This fall will see an important new wave of protests against Bush.

Support is growing for the major antiwar march September 24 in Washington, D.C. and other cities. Apart from the spontaneous antiwar activity around Cindy Sheehan, we are also seeing a growing movement of students organizing against military recruiters in their schools. Protests are being organized in high schools and colleges against the Iraq war and military recruitment in schools on the anniversary of Bush’s election November 2.

Following September 24, there will be the Millions More March in Washington, D.C. from October 14-16, to address the oppression of African American men and women a decade after the huge outpouring for the Million Man March in 1995 (see “The Millions More March”). Despite the confused and conservative nature of the March program, it is likely to be one of the largest political mobilizations of the black community in a decade, representing a growing desire to fight back.

This comes against the background of Latinos in California and Arizona organizing against the emergence of vigilante groups like the Minutemen, who have begun to self-police the southern border for immigrants looking to put food on the table for their families.

In California, there have also been important struggles against the pro-corporate policies of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In an attempt to find scapegoats for the underfunding of city services, he put on the ballot initiatives attacking public school teachers, firefighters, and nurses. These workers and local unions have organized a big campaign to confront those policies, and ballot initiatives and have forced Schwarzenegger to retreat.

Members of unions, community organizations, antiwar groups, etc. need to get their organizations to throw their weight behind these protests. We need all young people and workers to step up and help build these demonstrations and ensure they are a rallying cry to help ignite a broader movement against Bush’s policies.

The Role of the Democratic Party
A central question that will be posed in each of these movements is, what is the political alternative to Bush and the Republicans? What is the role of the party in opposition, the Democrats?

Unfortunately, their opposition is limited to words. And even then, it is usually limited to criticism of certain aspects of the Republicans’ policies. The Democrats are as much a party of millionaires and billionaires, CEOs, and well-paid corporate lawyers as the Republicans.

Each set of millionaire political leaders needs to get a majority of the public to vote for their millionaires. So the Republicans make false promises to small businessmen, Christian conservatives, and the regular person in the street to get their vote. Democrats make promises to defend women, union members, African Americans, Latinos, the LBGT community, and those concerned environment, as well as the ordinary person in the street, in return for their votes.

Witness the leaders of the Democratic Party who failed fight Bush’s key policies – whether on invading Iraq or Afghanistan, attacks on education misnamed the “No Child Left Behind” Act, or attacks on civil liberties wrapped up in the Patriot Act. As during the last election, they are still attempting to “woo the center,” this time by proposing to weaken their defense of abortion, hitting young and working-class women hardest.

Behind the noisy rhetoric of the two parties, business has gone on as usual in Washington, D.C. this year. Just in the last few months, we have seen a huge energy bill that includes tax breaks for the oil companies passed with bipartisan support, and a bipartisan bankruptcy bill that stripped the ability of workers to clear their name by declaring bankruptcy.

Real gains have never come from the kind heart of politicians, Democrat or Republican. As workers and young people, we have only made real gains as a result of our own mass struggles. Whether it was the labor movement, the women’s suffrage movement, or the civil rights movement, it has been mass movements organized by working people that has forced the political system to make concessions.

We need to fight against support for the Democratic Party in our movements, and instead call for coalitions to be built to run independent antiwar, pro-worker candidates in the upcoming elections. This would be a step towards building a new political party that fights big business and stands for the interests of workers, people of color, women, and the antiwar movement.

As workers and young people, we are the vast majority of this county. Organized in our own mass political party, we will have the power to transform this whole society.