As election day approaches and campaign news dominates the media, anti-war activists should note that there is no true debate between the two major parties on the central issues of war, U.S. interventions abroad or the wars waged against Americans at home.
There is no argument between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney about the size of the military budget or on a perceived right of the United States to interfere in the affairs of sovereign nations or to create more “collateral damage” worldwide against civilian populations. Both candidates promise an endless “war against terror”, a war which victimizes human beings and violates the rights of people across the planet. President Obama appealed a court decision striking down the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which allows him to indefinitely detain anyone he chooses. Mitt Romney is not in disagreement on the powers of the NDAA and has said that he would utilize them just as much should he become president. President Obama oversees targeted assassinations and we can be sure that Romney would continue this criminal practice.
Mitt Romney may attack the president for “leading from behind” on foreign policy but this comment is vague and meaningless precisely because there is no disagreement between the two candidates. While Romney attacks Obama because he won’t publicly state an intention to attack Iran, Obama still insists on ever more harsh sanctions against that nation. He has said repeatedly that all options are “on the table“.
At home America is still the world leader in mass incarceration, and deportations continue at a record pace. There is no federal government effort to stem police brutality and extra judicial killings which take place on a daily basis. The architects of the financial collapse go unpunished and their victims go unaided by our government. The 1% can be confident that they will not be discomfited by any president of the United States. Activists in the Occupy movement, a populist protest against the massive displacement of wealth towards the 1%, have been harassed and brutalized for asserting their first amendment rights.
UNAC acknowledges that differences exist between President Obama and Governor Romney on some issues, and UNAC is not endorsing any candidate for the presidency, nor calling for an election boycott. This statement is an effort to emphasize the continued need for peaceful mass mobilizations and other such effective protests before and after election day.
Regardless of who emerges victorious on November 6, 2012 the need for a truly progressive mass movement must continue. Popular demand for change is now as always the only path to greater justice at home and abroad.