timwakefield said:
First of all, that "Any party we vote for is just going to screw us over" is clearly a viewpoint of somebody who is jaded and irrational. This is neither the intent nor the practice of politicians. Sure, lots of them are scumbags, but suggesting that politicians are fundamentally against the interests of the public is silly. I agree that politicians "aid the interests of those who fund them." At least half their job is getting re-elected. That is the main problem with politicians, if you ask me. But that doesn't mean that they are ONLY interested in big business and lobbying groups. And surely not all politicians are morally corrupt...why not vote for the ones who are good honest people? Everybody should vote. If you don't want to vote for the Democrat or Republican, vote for another party. Somebody has to run the damn country, and there's no better way of choosing those people than by an anonymous general election. You can't bring down the system by abstaining...you would only give slightly more power to those citizens who do vote for a candidate. A better way to do things is to support those politicians who DO have good values and ideas, or else to vote for the lesser of two evils if necessary. If I said, 'I can cut off your finger or I can cut off your hand...' both are bad options, but one is clearly the better choice. If you have to choose between say Kerry and Bush, realize that one of them is going to win with or without your vote. Why not choose the one who you deem will do a somewhat better (or somewhat less bad) job of it?
Jaded maybe, irrational? Hardly. Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. Sure we have a "choice". A choice which suit will run our country, give more money to the rich, take more money from the poor, kill our environment more, or handle foreign policy in the most bass ackwards way possible. The problem begins and ends with the system, which gives voters control, but only within the paramaters that were set hundreds of years ago. Do you really think that the Constitution, or the BNA act, or whatever, was written with billionaire media moguls in mind? The system has made it so the only people who can get in power are those who already have it to some degree. In Canada, we recently had a PM who was not elected for months, yet he ran the country, is this right?You don't have to be morally corrupt to like money. When the oil companies are driving dump trucks of it to your door, setting you (and your children, and so on) up for life, are you going to say no? Sadly, there are no viable solutions at this point (revolution, anyone? sw), the only hope for the future is for people to be educated about the fact that they are merely a cog in the money machine, no matter how much they think they are at the controls. Discussions like this are the key, as they are too few and far between in the general public. Only when people come to understand the full picture will change be able to occur.
"We must recognize and rearticulate our passion as the attack that so many have presumed it to be"