Voting in 2008

I've been meaning to post for a few days, but I haven't had the time. A lot has been going on politically, and unless you take an active interest in what's going on with the government, media, and the machinations of the current election season, you probably will get only half the drama.

For the record, ever since Dennis Kucinich was pointed out to me, I've been a huge fan - I'll be voting for him in the California primaries. When I told my parents that, they starting harping about how that's a wasted vote.

Ex-squeeze me?

This is a wasted vote: when I am ardently anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, anti-NAFTA, anti-IMF, pro-nationalized medicine, pro-labor, and then I vote for someone who talks about bombing Iran, making concessions to "pro-life" wackos, mandating that every American buys insurance or face tax liens and garnished wages, will never have the balls to abolish NAFTA and withdraw from the WTO and change the rules of the IMF, won't liberate Puerto Rico, and uses economic sanctions to punish nations who don't get in line with our will.

When I vote for Kucinich in the primaries, I will be casting a valid, un-wasted vote for a serious candidate who has a past of following through on his word, and is the ONLY progressive candidate. I fully realize that he will not ultimately win the Democratic primaries, and therefore I will not be voting for president in the elections come November. My vote is too precious to be given away to people that I find reprehensible, irresponsible, and just more of the same.

Just in case anyone's reading this, I want to make a point - the only reason why Kucinich, other "second-tier" candidates, and third-party candidates don't have a chance is because Democrats and Republicans are too invested in the two-party system, and the media - even though they have no right to - decides for us early on who will be a "serious" candidate. Take the case of NBC. According to the rules that NBC had set up (which are inherently undemocratic), Kucinich surprisingly made the cut, and was originally invited to participate in the debates that were held earlier this week. They didn't want him to debate. So they changed their rules and disinvited him. He sued them in court, and won - the judge said that they have to let him debate. NBC then appealed, and won, and got their way - even though Kucinich is still in the race for the Democratic nomination, they didn't want him on.

Why? There are many theories, but personally I think that they - and the corporate media at large - do not want to upset the little applecart that they have set up to where only the candidates that they want the public to see will be seen. You can click here to see Kucinich's interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. He responds to the questions that were asked of Obama, Edwards, and Clinton. What we've got to realize is this: the corporate media are not disinterested viewers, merely reporting what they see. They haven't been that for a long time. This is why I'm glad I don't have a TV - I'm sure I'm not missing anything.

One thing that bothers me about Kucinich, though, is that he is still affiliated with a party that likes to treat him like crap. They do nothing for him! I have a plan, I just don't know how to implement it: get him and all the people who call themselves Progressive Democrats to join the Labor Party. Get every union to get its members joined up with this party. If the party got bigger and more people knew of it, I think that the 40% of Americans who don't vote would, and would vote for Labor Party candidates.

We don't live in a democracy. The electoral college ensures that the will of the people will not prevail in a presidential election, and the two-party system is working too well for the moneyed and propertied. If this were a democratic society, senators and representatives would not overwhelmingly be lawyers, CEO's, and other such criminals. There would be more artists, teachers, small businessmen, and other such working-class people representing us. Most people are poor, whether they be working class or "middle-class" (although the middle class dwindled away to nothingness quite some time ago).

This is my political rant for the day. If you already know me, you are not surprised. If not, then let me introduce myself: I would call myself a socialist, but I'm wary of being associated with groups, be they social, political, whatever. You will never convince me that capitalism has done beautiful things for the world, and that I'm too idealistic and therefore unrealistic. You're wrong and I'm right. Boo.