LYM Bachs the Vote at the CBC Convention

by Ed Hamler
LaRouche Youth Movement

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15Putting Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry into the White House will be no easy task for the LaRouche Political Action Committee and the LaRouche Youth Movement. Over the past eight months, since the New Hampshire primary, the Democratic Party has been limping along merely trying to consolidate so-called likely voters to turn out a measly 50% plus 1 vote in November. For any sane person who thinks or simply breathes, this perspective for a Democratic victory in November is obviously the exact opposite: a Cheney-Bush reelection strategy.

Unfortunately, this kind of campaign strategy is exemplary of the outstanding prevalence of linear thinking that dominates the U.S. population today. The question for any serious person aspiring to be President of the United States is: Do I, as a political leader, capitulate to this popular thinking among the citizens and leadership of my country? Do I play up to those popularly accepted opinions that have led the U.S. and the world into the biggest economic collapse in modern history; that managed to allow someone as handicapped as George Bush to maintain the office of President of the United States?

Those axiomatic questions could have been competently addressed and acted upon during the primary season, as then-Democratic Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, now head of the LaRouche Political Action Committee, describes in his new report, "Had I Not Been Excluded"; he charges the Democrats wasted precious time by excluding him from the debates during the primaries, which "has left the nation and the election-process into November emotionally and intellectually now greatly under-prepared for the forces about to strike us in a relatively unprecedented way."

Preparing the Population

So, how do we prepare a stubborn society, an increasingly disenfranchised, beaten down, and demoralized society, for the kind of atrocities we witnessed in Beslan a few weeks ago? How do we prepare them for the kind of havoc that would erupt in the midst of the blowout of the world financial monetary-system? How will we change the habituated behavior of the population, who have accepted the role of human cattle, and uplift them to a real human identity? WE WILL SING! That's right; sing. Since the state of politics is converging ever so quickly on the mental state of George "Wrong" Bush, the appropriate remedy for the psychological state in political affairs today demands a shot of cultural optimism.

The way the LaRouche Youth Movement wages a political campaign is from the standpoint of applying known, discovered social principles to politics. Those principles include principles of the Florentine bel canto singing voice, and principles of Bach's idea of counterpoint in Classical composed polyphony.

We have seen the effectiveness of these deployments all over the United States. There was a particular shift in politics during the Boston Convention, where the LaRouche Youth Movement deployed in marching choruses. It was from the juxtaposition of, on the one hand, a political force that was committed to putting all of the essential questions on the table and changing the political environment, through singing Bach's "Jesu meine Fruede," and Classical Negro Spirituals, so people would have a greater degree of freedom in politics altogether, and on the other hand, a sideshow. This process resulted in a huge breakthrough inside the Democratic Party. The exclusion of LaRouche was over.

Bringing Reality To the CBC

Needless to say, we have continued this method of organizing, and LaRouche himself has constituted the marching chorus as a new principle of organizing. This principle was heard loud and clear here last week at the Congressional Black Caucus convention, where 70 members of the LaRouche Youth Movement deployed.

The convention fell in the middle of a very peculiar political situation, in which LaRouche's leading role in the Democratic Party is much greater than ever before, and as a result, Democratic Party saboteur Bob Shrum was dumped. The convention was also set in the aftermath of the killing of little schoolchildren in Russia. And one of the most important developments for the CBC specifically, was the outing of Larry Franklin as an alleged Israeli spy.

Ironically, none of this was discussed at the convention. So, we, in classic LaRouche Youth Movement style, brought the discussion to the convention. Most of the discussion centered around how the key to everything (economic wealth, political freedom, winning the election) is money . The perfect opportunity arose to address this fallacy of composition in the CBC Town Hall Meeting. After the money = votes discussion, the session opened up for questions. the present author, LaRouche Youth organizer Ed Hamler, seized the opportunity to reinstate reality into the "forgotten man's" convention. He said, "As a youth, I just want to say that there is no way we are going to win an election by raising money." Then, he went on to comment that "the Cheney-Bush Administration does not play by political rules because most of the people running the Administration are hard-core fascists, so the only way we're going to win in November is to crush the Bush Administration, and win by a landslide. And the only way we're going to do this is if you guys bring in LaRouche."

Suddenly, to many people's surprise, at least half of the roughly 200 people rose in applause. As Ed tried to continue, he was cut off by the moderator, who nervously said, "Ask your question, ask your question." Then a voice in the back yelled, "Let him speak, this is a young person, let him speak!" Ed posed the crucial question which the CBC must face right now. "Why is the CBC taking money from AIPAC, the same organization that was the tool for the Israeli spy Larry Franklin?"

The Power of Song

What better time, than when all of the air had left the room, to cue the LYM to begin singing the Negro Spiritual "O, Freedom"? The LYM sang and sang. Many of the people joined in, singing along and clapping. Then something very strange happened. There was an attempt to try to counter the LYM's beautiful singing by the moderator. She got everyone to rise, and they sang, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." This is the power of song.

As we left the event, a group of LYM organizers sang, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" in four-part harmony, which utterly stunned the people leaving the event. People were now ready to discuss the real political situation. One guy said he knew LaRouche from the D.C. primary campaign and said, "I came to some of the town meetings at the library. LaRouche is definitely a scholar."

Later, all 70 LYM organizers congregated in a high-traffic area outside the convention and conducted a concert that captured people. Many of the people stayed for the entire concert, which consisted of most of Bach's "Jesu meine Freude" motet, Negro Spirituals, and tons of canons. New organizers noted that organizing was much more affective during and after the concert. They made more contacts, got out more literature, and had more meaningful discussions, and most importantly we shaped the environment of the convention.

So, let's teach John Kerry how to sing: BACH THE VOTE!