This fall, workers and young people won’t be forced to hold their noses and vote for one of the two parties of war and big business in Washington State’s election for U.S. Senate. And instead of staying away from the polls in disgust, they’ll have a concrete anti-war, anti-corporate alternative to vote for.

Aaron Dixon, co-founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, is running for U.S. Senate in the 2006 elections on the Green Party ticket. He’s been a community activist for decades, campaigning against racism, the war in Iraq, and gang and drug violence in African-American neighborhoods.

Dixon is running against incumbent Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell and Republican Mike McGavick. Both Cantwell and McGavick are millionaires with deep pockets to help finance their campaigns. And, as if their own fortunes aren’t enough, both are raising millions more from mega-corporations.

The Lesser Evil in 2006?
2000’s Washington Senate election came down to the wire, with Cantwell narrowly defeating right-wing Republican Slade Gordon. 2006 is also promising to be an extremely tight race. Already, many leaders of the labor, anti-war and other social movements are pointing to this and arguing that we must vote for Cantwell to help the Democrats take back Congress to stop Bush’s right-wing Republican agenda.

There’s no doubt that we shouldn’t give an ounce of support to Mike McGavick. He promises to continue the bloodshed in Iraq, while scapegoating immigrants here at home. He supports further attacks on the environment through oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and gutting the Endangered Species Act.

Cantwell, however, is no alternative. Her position on Iraq is virtually indistinguishable from Bush’s: refusing to call on Bush to set a date for troop withdrawal and recently voting to waste another $66 billion. She even went as far as to refuse to apologize for voting for the initial invasion, maintaining that it was correct to invade Iraq.

Cantwell also has towed the corporate line in Capitol Hill. She voted for and has continually supported the Patriot Act and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Cantwell also voted to end the filibuster of then Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, paving the way for the reactionary to come onto the Court.

Cantwell’s record shows the false logic of lesser-evilism. Rather than putting up a strong fight against Bush’s policies, the Democratic Party has been key in enabling Bush to push through his reactionary policies. It’s time to stop voting for the fat cat, pro-war Democrats.

Challenging Corporate Politics
In contrast, Aaron Dixon has put the issue of the Iraq war front and center in his campaign, highlighting the cost of the war for working-class people in terms of wasted resources and lives. He says “It’s time for America to take its money and resources out of war… and put them back in our communities.”

Dixon’s program would stand to benefit the millions of working people who are struggling to get by. He stands for universal healthcare, ending the racist war on drugs, creating a national, anti-poverty work program to revitalize working class communities, guaranteeing full rights for all immigrants, repealing both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and CAFTA, and repealing the Patriot Act.

Dixon’s campaign could be more effective by adopting more of a class approach and advancing more sweeping demands, such as raising the minimum wage to $12.50/hr, unionizing low-wage workers, putting a cap on the price of gas, and taking the big oil companies into public ownership as part of a program of massive investment in renewable energies and public transit.

Ultimately, independent candidates like Dixon should work together to build a new political alternative based on workers and oppressed people. A working-class party would organize campaigns around all these demands, and consistently fight the two big business parties not only at the ballot box but in the streets as well.

Unfortunately, the Green Party leadership has not consistently done this, reflecting their middle class character. For example, they opposed endorsing Ralph Nader for president in 2004 because they feared “taking votes away” from John Kerry, and they narrowly focus on electing candidates rather than organizing and leading struggles of workers or oppressed people. Socialist Alternative supports Aaron Dixon’s campaign as a step towards building the working-class political alternative we need.

For more info on Aaron’s campaign, check out www.dixon4senate.org