There are many problems with the way the democratic republic in the United States is working. Many pundits, bloggers, and regular people have been talking about reforming the electoral college or bemoaning the failure to energize voters to get to the polls. Most of these complaints are focused on structural deficiencies or strategic shortcomings. I think there is a an even larger hidden problem lurking out there though in the form of massive voter ignorance in two essential realms: the nature of America and their own desires. I'm not ready to take on the former topic yet and want to focus on ignorance of one's own political desires.
I'm not calling people stupid here; I'm saying that most people don't know what they want from a politician or a president. Now this obviously isn't scientific, but based on an impression that I have from the last couple of elections. It doesn't seem that many people pause to figure out what it is that they want in their leader and then go find a candidate that fits that. No, they look at (just) the two main candidates and find ways to de-emphasize the shortcomings of their preferred party's candidate while emphasizing the problems in the other's.
The entrenched two party/ one coin system doesn't have much incentive to change this pattern because it favors them. Many Americans aren't aware that there are many other candidates for president every election. They end up looking at the two main contenders and then vote against the one they dislike the most or they don't vote at all.
There is a third way. If you consistently accept whatever is offered to you and don't ask or demand for something different, you'll never get but what is offered to you. We need to vote for those parties that offer us something other than being less worse than the other main candidate.
All those people who voted for John Kerry in a vote against George Bush wasted their vote in the purest sense of the word, as did all those who voted for Bush out of hatred for John Kerry. Look what it got you, Kerry voters. You got an incumbent president and nothing to show for it. You didn't vote for a candidate you believed in and the parties that might offer that to you continue to languish.
I hope that this election hurt enough people who wasted their votes like this to get them to think about other options for improving the future of our nation. We mustn't give up and quit voting though! I urge everyone, from this day forward, to begin to build a movement to raise awareness about other political options in this country. Every time this election comes into conversation, talk about third parties. Do some basic research and find out about the alternatives, then share this information. There are political parties out there that aren't beholden to big money donors, that aren't into global hegemony via military interventions, that are keen on human rights issues for our nation such as working conditions, health care, environmental sustainability, and energy independence. These are issues that I believe in and that I believe these other parties believe in.
It has to start on the bottom. Individuals like you and me have to get other people like you and me to start thinking about this. We have 4 years to begin raising awareness. At the next election, we'll have to vote for marginalized parties, but those votes will strengthen those parties and elevate their status in the media. Within a couple more election cycles, we will be able to broaden the nature of political discourse in this country.
Don't let the time frame discourage you. It we had done this in 2000, we've had two elections under our belts and our parties would be much more well-known by now. And if we'd built on the progress made by Perot 12 years ago, I have no doubt that we'd be having 4 or 5-way presidential debates now.
We have to do this. We have to urge people to think of what they want for leadership and then find and vote for leaders that do that. There are people who do this already and they've selected George Bush as our president. Do we want to concede our nation and our future to them?
I'd love to hear your comments.
Posted by Nutrimentia at November 6, 2004 01:53 PM | TrackBack