There are no good choices at the US Ballot Box
By Dark Politricks
It makes me laugh when I go onto US websites that are either left leaning like the Daily Kos or right leaning like any FOX News linked message-board or Christian website and I see the types of comments each side throw at each other.
The Democrats are called Communists and socialists and Barack Obama is called anything from a Muslim who wants to destroy America and hand it over on a plate to Iran so they can destroy Israel to a secret communist who's great grandfather probably was a co-writer of the Protocols of Zion.
Then the Right wing are called everything from idiots to zombies and people who don't believe in anything apart from God, Banning Gay's and Gun's.
What makes me laugh is that from this side of the Atlantic there is not much difference between your two parties at all. As it is often said the Democratic Party is the second most Conservative party in the Western world, it's a shame more American's can't see that.
Both parties are pro war, pro bailouts, pro Wall St versus Main St, anti liberty, anti Internet freedom, pro-Israel, pro-police state and both have contributed massively to the huge amount of debt the USA is now in.
Whether it was spent on tax cuts, trillion dollar wars or huge bailouts to potential future employees at the Treasury from Wall St the only thing keeping the US afloat is their ability to print money and it's use as the reserve currency of the world. Wars have been fought to keep it that way.
That is not to say my country is any better either. All three main parties fight for scraps over the centre ground and whilst all 3 parties, Labour, Tory and Lib Dem have MP's that speak their mind and are to the left or right of their party the machine as a whole follows the path left by the previous government. Albeit with minor changes to tax rates, benefit cuts and how much they "speak out" against the EU and the failed Euro project.
Obviously behind the scenes all 3 are now the same faces of a triple sided coin much to the dismay of people who voted Lib Dem at the last election hoping for a restoration of the crush on civil liberties only to be met with a watered down Freedom Bill missing many of the original components that people voted for.
No matter whether Tory or Labour are in power one thing is for sure and that's our governments slavish devotion to US foreign policy objectives which also include pro Israeli, pro war anti Russian and Iranian sentiment and actions.
What is shameful is that the majority of people in this country don't like our brown nosing of American politicians and there was nothing in my life as cringe worthy as watching Gordon Brown's speech to Congress where he was licking arse so much he was almost touching Tony Blairs feet.
The term special relationship on it's own is enough to make most Brits throw up in their mouths and the disconnect between politicians, and what they promise and then what they do once in power is as much as it is on this side of the Atlantic as it is on the USA's.
So many people now realise that nothing changes with a vote for a major party but there is a lack of choice at the ballot box when it comes to alternatives.
As I said to someone the other day on Twitter the choice is either between standing yourself and getting nowhere in an electoral world of lobbyists, million dollar campaigns and expensive advertising or going for the least worst option and getting something out of it even if the candidate isn't your ideal fit.
That might be a vote for Ron Paul hoping he really would stick to his word by ending the US policy of indefinite war and detention, ending the FED and restoring some lost liberties without dismantling everything that people without a dime to their name rely on in these increasing hard times.
Or it might be a vote for Obama hoping that freed from worrying about a 2nd election he would really deliver all that hope and change he never really believed in during the first election. So far all he has done is further Bush's war of terror, crushed more liberties than most other Presidents put together and signed more cheques than can be cashed until eternity.
Having to dance for your dinner is probably a big distraction for any first term President and like most of recent times it is only within their second term that they start worrying about their "legacy". Freed from the shackles of having to find future bucks for favours they can attempt to deliver at least some of what they promised the electorate rather than their paymasters.
However Obama's track record leaves little to be desired and if he couldn't get any of his "hope and change" passed in a Democratic House and Senate then it was down to a lack of will not votes. He is unlikely to change in my opinion.
So what can be done when there is no-one to vote for who can be believed in?
I don't know how the electoral system works in the US but here in the UK we only get to vote for our local MP whilst our glorious (cough) Queen reigns over us forever as the untouchable Crown that is limited by no law at all.
I suspect there must be a lack of millionaire good guys in the USA otherwise at least a few would throw their hat in the ring and spend some of their money on an election or two?
It cannot only be total doofuses like Donald Trump who have the dollars to waste on expensive elections and I cannot believe that there isn't a few billionaires over the seas who don't like the state the USA is in at the moment.
Maybe it is just pie in the sky dreaming to expect that people with more money than they can spend want to take it all to the grave with them and don't already belong to "the club" that gets invited to Davos, Bilderberg and all the other meetings of high fliers each year.
So if no good guys with full pockets have the balls or morals to stand for President then it only leaves a good citizen with some savvy marketing skills and some online clout or a leader from an existing protest group like the original Tea Party (not the GOP flavour) or Occupy Wall St to stand up and be counted.
Whether any of them will or not I have no idea but unless an independent is available to say no no no to more war, more debt, more bailout and more police brutality then the only other course of action is a general public willing to make their protest felt at the ballot box by spoiling their paper in some fashion.
Some possibilities would include:
- Writing "None of the above" - and list the reasons why.
- A write in for someone not even standing but with enough spoiled ballots would be mentioned in the electoral count.
- Just a big cross over the whole ballot slip.
I don't know what the answer is but I do know that a vote for the incumbent or for Romney or Gingrich will mean a change for the worse, a probable war with Iran and huge cuts to your public services like we are currently experiencing in the UK.
Let me know who you would vote for if you could have anyone you wanted - use the comment section.
By Dark Politricks
©2012 Dark Politricks
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