More by: Bob

In previous columns, I have referenced anarchism on numerous occasions and eluded to the fact that I believe anarchism has and should have a strong role in the punk scene. However, in doing this, I have neglected another important strain of politics in the punk scene—electoral participation.

Owing to my affinity with anarchism, I have been skeptical of such efforts in the past. I laughed at Fat Mike’s PunkVoter.com effort to encourage punks to get “active” in the 2004 presidential elections. I saw the idea that President Bush represented the primary problem in the United States—rather than underlying issues such as capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy—as a flawed analysis. Consequently, I couldn’t see the effort as anything more than an attempt to get another Democrat—in 2004 Senator John Kerry—as a relatively meaningless gesture. About all Kerry had going for him was that he was not President George W. Bush, otherwise the majority of his policies were remarkably similar.

When the 2008 election came along, I was once again ready to reject electoral politics—seeing them for the charade that they so often are. However, that was before I encountered President Barack Obama. For the first time, something was different. I’m not sure what it was, I just had a better vibe about him. He was articulate, he promised to end the war, and there was a growing movement behind him. Everywhere I went, there was energy towards electing President Barack Obama. Everyone including radicals, progressives, Democrats, punks, and even some anarchists seemed to be supporting President Obama. I was skeptical, but I soon embraced Obama—eventually understanding that his election would be a significant step forward. I put my anarchist beliefs aside, rejected what so many of my favorite bands have said about electoral politics, and ignored my dreams of a world built on mutual aid, autonomy, and solidarity and voted for Obama.

Looking back, has this been the right decision? I can say for sure that it has been. After all the hours phone banking, the millions of dollars spent on television commercials, the hundreds of paid staffers that flooded the country, hundreds of campaign speeches later, and thousands of hours of labor—we have a progressive president in the White House! I don’t know about you, but something is just different in the United States—we actually got the “change” so many millions voted for. The most historic election of my lifetime has made a dramatic change in the status quo.

And what have we gotten from this change? For starters, a new healthcare bill! Granted, it isn’t a single-payer healthcare system where everyone living in the United States would have access to free healthcare, but how could we have that? It isn’t like other industrialized countries have that—and as the richest country in the world, I doubt we could afford. Instead, the bill expands insurance, makes some important reforms, and most of all, requires that we all purchase insurance. I know in my case as a minimally employed punk, I certainly had enough money for health insurance—I just needed that extra push to buy it.

When it comes to the United States’ occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama’s election has been similarly important. Rather than “end the war” in Iraq as he promised, President Obama took the pragmatic step of publicly saying he would end the war and then doing the opposite. While this might seem like a betrayal, it was actually a great idea. We can’t just leave Iraq and our interests there undefended (whether we should have invaded or not, it would be silly to invest in the country and not expect something in return), so Obama just pledged to remove some of the troops (the great majority of which are still there) while leaving a contingency force there and an army of private contractors. It would be irresponsible to leave right away, it isn’t like the Iraqis should be able to run their own country or anything. At the same time, Obama has been doing the right thing and sending more troops into Afghanistan—after all that is where the terrorists are. Escalating the war makes sense, it isn’t like there are a growing number of civilians being killed or anything.

At the same time, President Obama has made important pledges regarding nuclear weapons. Again, he has taken the pragmatic step of supporting restrictions on nuclear weapons, while calling for the largest increase in nuclear weapons spending in decades. Sadly, this is necessary—as the United States faces very real threats at every corner of the world and badly needs a new nuclear arsenal built on the model of the Cold War. Of course, this isn’t  all bad as we can build nuclear weapons while also developing the technology to save the world. Obama has called for more nuclear plants to be built. As we all know, nuclear power is the only real sustainable energy source as it is safe and the waste is easily disposable. Already, one company has been given a reasonable $8.3 billion in loans to build the first nuclear plant in the United States in years. These are a critical aspect of fighting global warming, as are other technologies such as mini-nukes, clean coal, and other techno-fixes such as pumping CO2 pollution underground to keep it out of the atmosphere.

On a host of other issues, President Obama has also made a number of important changes. He understands why bankers need substantial bonuses, explaining that they work real hard for the rest of us. When it comes to helping workers, Obama has been making a difference. While legislation that would make it easier to form unions has been stalled, Obama has increased the number of pro-union members of the National Labor Relations Board. Obama also understands the critical role that trade plays in the United States economy, and is planning to expand trade agreements modeled on NAFTA. To help with this, he appointed Rahm Emanual to be his Chief of Staff—an official who played a key role in getting NAFTA passed. It seems like a good choice to me.

As much as it pains me to say it, all the progressives, punks, anarchists, communists, and everyone else who argued that Obama would be a major change were right—we’re living in a great country now. In fact, with such a large change underway, I’m wondering what the point even is in being an anarchist these days. But I guess that is a thought to ponder in another column.