Wouldn’t it
be great…?
By David
Perez
April 04, 2020
"Information
Clearing House"
- As the coronavirus crisis makes real the possibility
that the remaining Democratic Party presidential primary
could actually be canceled, or that the Democratic
National Committee will simply choose their preferred
candidate (Biden or some other yo-yo), it raises, in my
mind, the whole viability and even relevance about the
electoral process in the United States, particularly the
presidential kind—that winner-take-all,
big-money-driven, spectacle-soaked, and mind-numbingly
LONG process where we get to choose between the finer
nuances of empire and the rule of the elite.
A casino where, despite a jackpot here and there, the
house always wins.
Of course, if some popular type of revolt causes someone
like Bernie Sanders to become the Democratic Party
nominee – or if they run as a third party candidate –
then the electoral route becomes a whole other ballgame.
Nevertheless I can’t help wondering: Might the deeper
problem be our constant effort to reroute a train going
in the wrong direction? Might the whole point be to get
off the train?
Have we ever stopped and considered that there has never
been a President or member of Congress who’s been
elected by a majority of the population? When you take
the average 40 percent of the votes garnered by the
loser and then add the eligible voters who don’t vote
(usually another 40 percent, give or take), and then add
those who can’t vote (teenagers under 18, prisoners,
undocumented workers and so on), you invariably come out
with a winner with only a small percentage of support.
Democracy? Hardly.
But who ultimately rules the U.S. anyway? In the 1987
Oliver Stone movie, “Wall Street,” billionaire corporate
raider Gordon Gekko lectures his young protégé,
stockbroker Bud Fox about how 1 percent of the
population controls 90 percent of the wealth. With a
knowing snicker, Gekko asks Fox: “You’re not naïve
enough to believe we live in a democracy are you?”
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
I
suspect that deep down most of us know the deal.
But we feel trapped and resigned to play the
cards we’ve been dealt. That, yes, our democracy
is “flawed,” but we simply have to do the best
we can.
Still, wouldn’t it be great…
If voting with courage and conviction was called
voting with courage and conviction?
If we always voted for a progressive candidate,
no matter what?
If we never voted for a corporate-backed,
pro-empire candidate, no matter what?
If voting for the “lesser of two evils” wasn’t
called being “realistic” and “pragmatic?”
If voting with our conscious wasn’t called a
“wasted vote” or “abetting the enemy?”
If we expected as much from our politicians as
we did from our teachers, priests, doctors—and
even our car mechanics?
Wouldn’t it be great…?
If we stopped calling every presidential
election, “The most important election ever!”
If we stopped thinking that the U.S. two-party
duopoly represents the “greatest democracy
ever!”
If we stopped thinking that the problem is one
individual (terrible) politician?
If we stopped saying, “This election is
different.”
Or, “We’ll fix things next time.”
Wouldn’t it be great…?
If “None of the Above” were an actual ballot
choice? If “None of the Above” received 20
percent or more of the vote, the election was a
do-over?
If half the electorate didn’t vote, the election
was also a do-over?
If every election season ran three months from
start to finish?
If electoral reform—like eliminating the
Electoral College, the role of corporate money,
and electronic voting—didn’t always have to wait
until after the elections?
If, like much of the world, we had a system of
representative democracy, where a party that
gets a percentage of the vote also gets a
percentage of representation?
Wouldn’t it be great…?
If any state leader or governing body that
declared war was required BY LAW to send their
sons and daughters to the front lines?
If those who profit from war had to fight it
themselves?
If drone strikes and sanction were also called
acts of terrorism?
Wouldn’t it be great…?
If we stopped being ruled by fear?
If we stopped waiting for a political savior?
If we had faith in ourselves?
David Perez is a writer, journalist,
activist, actor, and performance coach living in
Taos, New Mexico. He is the author of WOW! A
South Bronx Memoirito about boyhood and Catholic
school.
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