|
that the electoral/legislative political aspect of things does not, will not, cannot address the meat-and-potatoes of the struggle people are facing. Nothing is more stunning to me than recent statistics (eg the census numbers from 2009) which indicate the extent to which a small number of very rich people control a huge amount of wealth while the poor keep getting poorer in this country. Neither major party can or will address this in a meaningful way, because by and large they *are* those enormously wealthy people. And even moreso - our government is designed to protect their wealth, to protect private property, not to work for the common good or any other fairy tale. And this is the root of people's daily struggle.
This is becoming more and more clear now.
Now, it could be argued that it's always been this way...which in a sense is true but what's really shocking to me is that the rhetoric, lip-service, the crumbs, the 'issues' that have served in the past to keep people interested in electoral politics and keep up the us vs them mentality of the electorate (aka divide and conquer) are weaker than shit these days. It's like no one is even pretending.
There are certainly people who are still motivated to elect Democrats for one reason or another. The loudest argument I've heard this time around is the 'lesser of two evils' because even the so-called 'wedge' issues are no longer in play - GLBT rights, for example, or the environment, schools, energy and so forth....we have seen that none of these are real priorities for the politicians of either party.
Even those who are enthusiastic, working GOTV, etc for the Dems say (in response to criticism of the last 2 yrs) 'well, they can only do so much, what do you expect?' - and they are right! So the question is, how much change do we want? And if it's real health care reform, or real public school funding, or real environmental protection, or people mattering more than profits, if it's these things that we want, then it's time to recognize that the answer is *not* in the voting booth.
People are starting to realize they are being used - this is true for *both parties* (I could give anecdotes for this but you all know the story). And people are starting to realize that while they will still likely go out and vote for the Dem ticket, the -real- fight that must be fought has to be independent of the political parties. It has to come from the ground up and be a different sort of movement. That's how it has worked in the past in this country - no major party has ever handed anything to the people - the people have gotten in the streets, have held strikes and so forth to force the hand of the politicians - in some cases they gave their lives for it.. And we see it elsewhere in the world now, throughout parts of Europe - France, Greece, etc..they have to fight to keep what they've gotten. Why don't we fight to keep all the things the labor movement achieved in the last century, that has been eroded ever since?
The key is getting voices heard who speak in these terms - that yeah, sure, voting has it's role but it is just one small part of things - if you want real change.. It's not about Obama or any other Dem candidate or whether they are 'trying' or whether they are a good person with good ideals, it's not about the party at all.*There is more to it than electoral politics*...
What I don't understand is why some are so averse to recognizing this. We'll never get anywhere unless we look at the *reality* of what elected politicians can and cannot accomplish. Not the 'hopes' but the reality.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(672 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
