Progress Marches Forward

Following the lead of Venezueala, Argentina, Bolivia Chile and Nicaragua, progressive econimist Rafael Correa sweeps to victory in Ecuador! Ecuador is also a supplier of oil to the US and that Correa, a socialist ally of Chavez is assuming leadership is another might blow against US corporate hegemony on the anvil of progress.

The scare propaganda of the mid 20th century was "the domino effect" in which states would "fall" like dominoes (with Soviet backing) to communism if we didn't intevene, slaughering thousands and setting up dictators like Pinochet, the Shah of Iran and countless others. The reality is that nations are driven to reject capitalism by the effects of capitalism itself. As the chasm between desperate poverty and extreme wealth grows the only thing capitalism has to offer is violent repression but now Bush's bogging down of our military in Iraq has prevented our ruling class from crushing progress in our southern hemisphere as we have done in the past. Progress is as inevitable as the dying of this unsustainable system.

We US workers are not immune to the same economic pressures and the US economy is a house of cards built on debt and lies. We need to build our own democratic, self-managed instiutions even in the shadow of the juggernaut. Let the dominoes fall where they may and let the ruling class tremble.

Some truths stand the test of time --