2002-11-06|6:29 p.m.
"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few."-- George Bernard Shaw
I am disgusted by the news. I awake late this morning taking a break from school to recoup from a pretty stress-filled couple of weeks full of midterms, papers, projects, and forty-hour work weeks. Plus, yesterday on my only official day off this week, I put in a fifteen hour day at the polls to help out in the �democratic process�. Then, I wake to the headline:
�Complete Control�
I feel sick. Every major branch of government now reeks of Republican, right-wing, anti-woman�s reproductive rights, Christian Coalition, big business, anti-environment, anti-welfare, anti-socialized medicine of any kind including Medicare and Medical, anti-social security, pro-oil companies and big, stupid fucking SUV�s who make them successful, anti-education, pro-standardized testing up the ass to the point that all a student does is fill in bubbles instead of learning how to use the Chi-square or who has the right to declare war, and pro-military and making big bombs to destroy everyone with dark skin and non-JudeoChristian views�mantras. Yes, now the Executive (George W. Bush), the Legislative (House and Senate), and the Judicial (all those Supreme Court Justices nominated by all our favorite Republican presidents, including Sandra D. O�Connor, who I don�t give a shit if she is a woman. She was nominated by Nixon and upholds all those right wing policies) branches all belong to a majority of Stupid White Men .
If there were any slight chance in Hell that we weren�t going to war with Iraq, it is officially gone now. Because, I know something my fellow Americans don't (a whopping 64% of them, according to AP news): IT IS CONGRESS THAT DECLARES WAR, not the president. Although, I am not surprised that anyone thought otherwise. In almost every case of military action, the president overlooked this little Constitutional detail and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces sent troops out anyway. Nevertheless, that chance is now gone.
But, don�t get me wrong, I am no Democratic National Party supporter. I am registered as a Democrat, but that is so that I can vote in their primaries. I just understand the two party system and how truly impossible it is for any idyllic third party to win in any major office. If you hold any romantic ideas about how this works read this. Duverger will set you straight.
So, I didn�t vote for Nader and I never will. So, I choose the party that at least promises me some vague platforms that seem some what satisfactory in hopes that a few of them don�t get sold out in the complex game of politics. Because, at least this party has a chance. I am certainly not voting Republican and supporting the six major companies of the world become three major companies of the world. I don�t like credit card, suburban serfdom.
And on a morning after making 4 dollars an hour to serve my country and the power of vote, I sit stunned. I read an article about how a Republican run America could be a good thing:
�For one thing, they think an anti-business bias that has prevailed in the Senate this year as a result of the corporate accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom and more will be toned down. �You can't get a strong economy if everybody's against business,� said Mark Vitner, chief economist at Wachovia Securities. �It's awfully hard to create jobs if everybody's anti-business.�
This interprets as:
After the scandals of Enron and WorldCom, the Democratic majority in the Senate is trying to make big business responsible for itself finally. And Mark Somebody, a.k.a. puppet for big business, is really saying� its hard to keep people quiet when they know who is messing them over. We need the Republican majority to breed ignorance in the people so that we can further exploit employees and their futures.
And my response to this is, �Yeah, we better create some jobs, because a lot of unemployed people (either from Enron-esque scandals or companies up and leaving the States for cheaper labor abroad) are going to get pissed off.�
But, I am not even sure this is true. In countries like El Salvador, the people rose up and fought for themselves. In the mid 90�s, nearly 70,000 people in El Salvador died for their autonomy. And they are still very poor. But, they are working bravely to rebuild themselves. The seemingly apolitical peasants were tired as hell of being exploited and did more than sit around and feel sorry for themselves.
And I just want to note for the record that the corrupted military police that fed the despotic oligarchy of landed elite who was responsible for all those murders and maltreatment, was funded by the good ol� US of A. Aren�t you proud, voters?
So, will we fight back? Nah. We can barely get up our lazy asses to vote. Well, unless you are a Republican. Republicans do exceptionally well getting out their voters. It amazed me how many old people who could barely see would punch those cards with pride. And because I was there at the booths, I got to see what party they were registered as. The sad thing was, for as many Democrats that lived in the two precincts I worked in very few of them practiced their right.
And although, Davis won here in California this could never make me feel better. It scares me that a housing bond that �creates trust fund to: provide shelters for battered women; clean and safe housing for low-income senior citizens; emergency shelters for homeless families with children� barely passes. But, only a few years ago, we passed a proposition with whopping numbers to make it impossible for homosexuals to share the legal benefits of marriage. The fifth largest economy in the world looks like a bunch of assholes.
But, we aren�t doing as badly as the El Salvadorian peasants, are we? We own cars and homes, have health care and access to education, and bask in the lovely light of democracy. Or do we? Do we own our homes? Most homes, if not rented, are owned by banks. The same thing does with our cars. And most of the junk inside our homes are bought by credit cards. We live in the false world of CREDIT. And 40 million Americans don�t have access to health care. But, 43% of Americans, according to AP news, think that the Constitution insures people to access to healthcare. And those who do actually have insurance probably have no idea that their HMOs and PPOs probably have a way to weasel out paying for the important, lifesaving procedures. And I don�t think I need to say much about education. The fact that Americans have no idea what their own rights are is evidence enough. So, what am I saying? I am saying that we don�t have a single clue of what the heck is going on. So, why would we do anything about it?
And maybe even some of us do know what is going on. But, don�t go patting yourselves on the back just yet. It isn�t enough to just know.
