JUN 05, 2018
They are back at it again. The
Democrats are peddling change and hope as they promise a “better deal” if only
they are entrusted with power. Nancy Pelosi has
been touting the newest Democratic National Committee platform while
pretending to be outraged about the excesses of Republicans. She promises to
empower voters, strengthen ethics laws and fix campaign finance once she regains
the speaker’s gavel.
What Pelosi is banking on is
that voters are beset by “collective recollection deficit.” Never mind that
Democrats had solid majorities in both houses of Congress and did the opposite
of what
she is now promising. Pay no attention to the fact that Barack Obama had a
mandate when he made history in 2008. In a world according to neoliberals,
iniquities took root on Jan. 20, 2017—and now all the ills of the world can be
traced to Donald Trump.
We are witnessing the
tried-and-true tactic of imprisoning voters in the moment. The duopoly
continues to thrive because the media-politico establishment has conditioned us
to have short-term outrage and disregard the connective nature of the two-party
racket. Both parties are co-opted by corporations and the plutocrat class. They
differ on the margins, but at their core, Democrats and Republicans’ primary
purpose is to transfer wealth from the masses to the neo-aristocracy.
Malcolm X once said that
Republicans are like wolves, while Democrats are like foxes. The former show
you their teeth and have no problem revealing their mendacity. The latter smile
and pretend to be your friends while they stick a shiv in your chest. The Blue
Wave is the newest shiv Democrats are sharpening. They will promise the world
until the first Tuesday of November, then they will kick their voters to the
curb the minute the last vote is counted.
This two-faction scam works
only because establishment voices sheepdog the citizenry to accept a binary
view of socio-political issues. We are given limited choices and told to vote
for one of two equally malicious parties.
There is a reason why over
40 percent of Americans who can otherwise vote refuse to do so. That
number seems to go up every election cycle. More and more people are waking up
to the ruse and realizing that a ballot limited to two parties is not a
republic; it’s a tyranny of false choices.
But for those who say enough to
the facade of a representative democracy, over 50 percent remain wedded to the
status quo. A system that has been given a vote of no-confidence by abstention
is afforded a cover of legitimacy by a league of Charlie Browns who insist on
voting against their self-interest. Every two, four, and six years, Lucy van
Pelts like Pelosi, Donald Trump and others hold out footballs in the form of
false hopes and counterfeit talking points.
Invariably, the football is
withdrawn from the bases of both parties as promises are broken and pledges are
nullified by dark money and corporate extortion. Parenthetically, do you know
how insulting it is to be called “the bases”? The political classes are telling
their most loyal voters that their backs are the foundations on which
politicians and pundits are building their status and wealth. The illusion of
change is the only thing that keeps Americans from rising up against a
government comprised mostly of millionaires and controlled by the checkbooks of
billionaires. Democrats and Republicans have mastered the art of pointing
fingers at each other publicly, only to unite in private to work for their
corporate patrons.
Sloganeering and political ads
are not governance. We need to focus on ideas and on the policies being
implemented in our names. The time has come to stop voting for people based on
identities and ideologies. More importantly, to stop endorsing politicians
based on affinity and/or political loyalty. Put away emotional decisions, and
support people based on whether they will go beyond meaningless speeches and
symbolic photo ops to fight for your interests.
The other option is to keep
lining up every election cycle to kick Lucy’s football.
We all know how that ends.
