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MARK, MY WORDS - Well, here comes another election where anyone who cares enough to pay attention, is forced to hold their nose and vote for Tweddle dumb or Tweddle dumber and suffer once again, under the illusion of an established binary option; democracy reduced to a true or false high school pop quiz that could be passed by a moderately dexterous monkey.
The Democrat and Republican parties are nothing more than two sides of the same wooden nickel. It will buy you nothing but wasted time; time that could have been spent electing an honest representative who prioritizes the future of our country over their post-public service financial portfolio. As long as we allow ourselves to be force-fed this two party system, we will never repair all that is wrong with our government, since much of it stems from the parties themselves.
I don’t need to tell anyone who follows legacy news networks about how they support and protect the binary political agenda, but I may need to remind everyone that there is a third option. RFK is also running for President. Like him or not, don’t we have a right to know about him? Are we so committed to the idea of “party loyalty” that we will give up the right to see all our choices of an elected official?
If I were a cynical person, (and I obviously am) I would almost think that our news organizations have a shared agenda. After all, aren’t they supposed to give us all the news? Shouldn’t they? Perhaps the reason opinions have become so vitriolic and nonsensical is because of the information they are born from. Significant blame lies with these State and corporate sponsored entertainment shows masquerading as news programs, but it is the public’s complicity that completes the grift.
The best of brains are subject to influence when repeatedly exposed to ideas that are presented at the right time, in the right way. But the fact that they don’t have to be good ideas is what makes it all so dangerous. It’s not our fault. We are humans. We’re stupid. But there is enough evidence for the dullest of us to realize that we are being manipulated, isn’t there? I’m not talking about conspiracies or their origins, but instead, what is right in front of us on-line, in newspapers and on TV that makes that little voice inside us say…”ahhh…nope.”
It was not a coincidence that Trump and Bernie Sanders were such beloved and welcomed disrupters. Two candidates presenting themselves as arbiters of change who will clean up a corrupt government, was exactly what America needed, regardless if that is what they really were. It is the people’s hunger for it to be true that is important.
Spoiler is the pejorative term the establishment uses for such people, designed to intimidate the voter and paint a picture of independent candidates bringing disaster down upon us. But isn’t it the establishment’s assertion that is chipping away at the foundation of our Constitutional Democratic Republic? We are offered two divisive candidates who are only viable choices because of voters’ hate for the challenger.
Kicking the third party can down the road with the assumption that one day, the opportunity will magically present itself only allows the failed two party system to continue damaging our country. This is not an acceptable metric for an American election.
Here is a recent Gallup Poll. Check it for yourselves…and re-check it. I believe it is important and meaningful:
Independents are crushing the established parties. So if not now, when? When will be a good time to dismantle the two corporate parties that are almost indistinguishable from each other in terms of voting against the peoples’ interests and in support of corporations? Cost of living, rising crime, unaffordable and failing education, rights of privacy, out of control deficits, affordable housing, corporate and government accountability…aren’t these the things that affect us all? Can you really say either party is focused on fixing any of them?
If you see the republican congress as a clown-car, don’t forget about the democrat three ring circus that built it by allowing a radical WOKE agenda to dictate over-reaching policies implemented by programs that fly in the face of logic, science, success and common sense. Ideals are only valuable if they yield good results; results that benefit us, not global corporations and billionaires. Remember; both parties and all three branches willingly built this model together.
I am not defending the idiotic behavior of the Margery Taylor Greens and Rashida Tlaibs of our government, but do not blame the Republican or Democrat voter for their desperate attempts to try anyone who or anything that offers a chance to stop the unending gaslit nightmare that is our current government. The only hope we all have, is forgiving each other for our past sins and coming together under the umbrella of common sense, common ground and common human intuition.
We can no longer ignore what we feel inside. What we see right in front of us. What we all have in common as humans and fellow citizens. Follow not what we are told to be, but what we are meant to be; a nation of independent thinkers who have the pursuit of happiness and freedom in common, despite all our wacky ideas of how to achieve it. It is okay to reject Biden and Trump without rejecting one’s principles. It is okay…no, it is one’s duty as an American, to reject a corrupt system that no longer represents the tenets of our Constitution or the needs of the people who live under it.
I will always fight for the right to have and express fringe or stupid ideas. I draw the line though, at forcing the rest of us to participate and live under those ideas. There is an important distinction between having an idea and institutionalizing it. Democracy cannot be taken for granted. As safely embedded as it seems, it is only held together and sustained with constant care and effort. Freedom is just as delicate and even more complicated, since one person’s freedom can potentially inhibit that of another.
It is important, especially now, to think for ourselves while thinking of others. It’s not nearly as difficult as it is crucial to maintaining a decent society where kindness and love can coexist with law and order. You don’t have to believe me. It is the history books that preserve our future. Rather than relegating them to history, perhaps we should pick one up every once in a while and read it to each other.
(Mark Dutton is a lifelong musician, music producer, and writer. He was arguing politics with his parents since he was a pre-teen. Majored in psychology and left college in his 3rd year on a 30 year magic bus trip around the world playing and writing music with some of the best in the biz. Mark is a contributor to CityWatchLA.com.)
