Ross Perot's campaign: Another "miracle" of capitalist democracy ROSS PEROT

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Multi-billionaire Ross Perot has sprung from nowhere to be a major candidate for President of the United States. Pollsters claim that he is running ahead of the leading candidates of both capitalist parties—incumbent President George Bush and Governor Bill Clinton.

This is one of those "miracles" of capitalist democracy whereby a man without a political organization can overnight become a credible challenger for the nation's highest political post.

The Perot phenomenon is explained by two main factors. The first obviously flows from the very nature of "democracy" in capitalist countries. American capitalist democracy, more than any other, is based on the Orwellian principle that "All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others.

This works out so that those with the most dollars usually get the most votes. Thus, Ross Perot's zoom up to the status of a major contender for the presidency rests in great part on his mind-boggling personal fortune. It enables him to singlehandedly impact on the consciousness of the great majority of the population.

One report in mid-May claimed Perot had only spent a piddling amount ($5000) on his campaign. But the May 23 New York Times reported that he had already given $1.25 million to a committee (unnamed) devoted to getting his name on state ballots, and that he had "guaranteed lines of credit for the Perot Petition Committee While many workers have so far been from NationsBank of Texas totaling nearly $2.4 million."

It was reported that Perot may spend as much as $300 million of his personal fortune for his campaign. (And the way it works, he will get a multiple of that amount in free publicity on top of that.)

Ross Perot has been blasting the bipartisan political establishment for years. Like many a demagogue before him, much of his most effective criticism is directed at the many social and economic injustices intrinsic to capitalism. He has attacked the two parties for everything from their aggression in the Gulf War to the system of legalized bribery whereby billionaires like himself get politicians to do their bidding in exchange for contributions to their election campaigns.

Although hardly a typical "man of the people," his populist demagogy includes scathing attacks on the soak-the-poor U.S. tax structure. In the May 25 issue of Time Magazine we find this typical Perot critique-right out of the horse's mouth-of the heavily biased, pro-capitalist tax system:

"Our current tax system is a very ineffective, inefficient tax system basically put together by special interests over a period of many years...The current tax system is not [fair]...The grossest inequity I have seen in my adult life is when they created the new tax system...where people like myself would pay at a lower rate than people who had a lower income.... Now for me to pay a lower rate than some guy making less than me is a joke."

However, even though Perot hammers away at Democratic and Republican misdeeds and wrongdoing, his popularity is really a measure of the unusually low esteem with which today's voters regard both capitalist parties.

It is also most likely that only the most gullible believe that Perot is a brilliant problem-solver (the richer you are, the smarter you must be), who can rescue the country from an economic malaise caused by inept scoundrels and scalawags.

Rather, it is the incapacity of the scoundrels and scalawags to stop capitalism from going to the dogs that has fueled this growing rejection of the two parties of big business.

This come-down for Democrats and Republicans alike has been a long time in the making. With each election, disillusion in both parties has been growing. Increasingly, fewer people believe that capitalist politicians can stop the country's descent into social, economic and political chaos.

And even more numbers of working people are getting wise to the confidence game played by the Democrats who yelp at the consequences of trickle-down "Reaganomics," but over the years have willingly joined Reagan, Bush, and Republican legislators in pushing through anti-working class, anti-poor legislation.

There have been few times in American history when both parties have been held in such utter contempt. And because of the lack of a credible alternative to the political representatives of the capitalist class, this ly, by the steadily rising rate of voter abstention.

Thus the groundswell of support for the candidacy of Ross Perot is highly contradictory. It reflects a changing consciousness whereby conflicting perceptions momentarily coexist in the minds of most potential voters. And given the lack of a real alternative, this "rags to riches" billionaire has become a medium for venting growing mass outrage against mainstream politicians—another way of voting for "none of the above."

Protesting electoral system

But why now? Why are more millions than ever before lashing out in protest against the American electoral system? After all, how long has it been since many people believed politicians told the truth or kept their promises?

The reason should be obvious:

American capitalism has been engaged in a decades-long campaign to bolster sagging profit rates at the expense of the American working class's living standards—an assault that has so far resulted in a significant decline in real wages for the average worker. But it has not yet succeeded in stopping the fall in the profit rate and stabilizing the economy.

To raise profits and stabilize the system, capitalists must rip considerably more out of the hides of working people. That's why the trend toward new takeback demands and strike-busting by the bosses grows. That's why bipartisan national, state, and local legislatures extort increasing amounts of taxes from the poor to hand over to the rich.

But this drive to reduce the workers' share of the nation's wealth is not simply due to a blind and senseless greed. The ruling class must bolster the falling rate of profit or else the incentive for investment will decline even more drastically; and with it will come a collapse of the system as a whole.

Despair and hatred of the official political establishment grows daily as more and more of capitalism's victimsespecially the youth-realize that unlike previous generations they cannot hope to ever achieve the living standards of their parents, much less surpass them. Moreover, evidence keeps piling up that any real economic turnaround for the better is highly unlikely.

Keenly aware of this explosive social backdrop, Perot is basing his appeal on the fact that he is running outside of and against the Democrats and Republicans. But like his erstwhile political cohorts, Perot has no solutions for the economic crisis, which is why he assiduously avoids advancing any concrete program.

mass suffering-to provide jobs with a