Looking for Alternatives
I was reading this and the comments posted afterward, which are really a continuation of the discussions people always have every four years or so. Another presidential election is upon us and nobody is really happy with the choices. What to do?
Well despite what some may be inclined to do, if four years of Bush has taught us nothing, not voting is not an option. Symbolic protests fall on deaf ears. Nobody is impressed. There is no rule stating that we need a quorum in order to hold an election. If there were 1 million registered voters and 999,999 stayed away because they didn’t like the choices, then someone would get voted in by a single vote. It’s that simple.
Not voting will only get us more Bush and further erosion of our civil liberties, more war, greater disparity between the haves and have nots. Four more years of him and I will be calling O Canada my national anthem.
Voting for Ralph Nader is also not an option. The key word here is viability. Viability is defined as a candidate’s ability to win. Nader has none. He has no party apparatus behind him, no funds, no ability to get out sufficient numbers of voters. He is not viable. Vote for Nader. Bush wins. O Canada. Get the picture?
A lot of folks aren’t crazy about John Kerry. I know I’m not. I’m a little more at ease with his selection of John Edwards as his running mate (picking Gephardt would have been a major blunder) although I wasn’t supportive of either during the primaries. (For the record I was a Dean supporter.)
While I am a lifelong registered Democrat who has worked in both politics and government and continues to contribute money to local New York campaigns, I have always been a political pragmatist. Politics is not about having the perfect candidate. There is no one human being who can be all things to all people on either side of the political spectrum. It’s about choosing the best from the options given to you. It has always been this way.
I think the annual whining that always comes from the left wing over not being happy with the choices stems from a certain lack of political sophistication. We want a perfect world, with perfect candidates to choose from. Grow up, already! Right wingers understand that it really doesn’t matter who gets the party nomination so long as they have a solid voting block with an agenda and an ability to push their issues. (Bush the father was a moderate, but conservatives forced him to do their bidding by their ability to organize.)
We so-called liberals and progressives—being a more diverse group—often have a hard time seeing past our own narrow issues in order to form coalitions with like minds. Thus the environmentalists and the gay marriage crowd aren’t in synch, or the labor groups are fearful of the immigrant rights folks because they think they’ll lose their jobs. Instead of recognizing that our collective numbers give us the ability to sway an election and set the national agenda, we snipe and curse if “he’s not strong on our issues.” Stupid, childish, divisive thinking while conservatives skillfully work their plan.
Instead of forcefully pushing our issues in front of whomever wants our vote, we wait for them to come and “inspire” us. If we vote, that’s all we do, while conservatives assemble in droves to lobby lawmakers at the local, state and federal level, every day of every week, whether their candidate has won or not.
Now despite my party affiliation I also think we need a stronger third party option as they have in many other western nations. Registering as an Independent isn’t an option either, because that’s not a political party. It doesn’t give you unified numbers just a mass of disgruntles.
To build a political party you have to work from the ground up, during the years between presidential elections. As former House Speaker Tip O’Neill once said, “All politics is local.” The heart of what the Democrats and Republicans do is get voters to the polls at the local level. Dividing each city into precincts and blocks allows huge networks of volunteers to go door to door to canvass for voters and encourage people to come out in support. A third party must create the same mechanism. Third party candidates winning city council races and mayor’s offices all across the country, and thus creating a broad local base, are the foundation that has to be laid before any viable presidential candidacy can be mounted.
John Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Progressives need to heed those words. Change will only happen when we make it happen, not by waiting for some politician. If you are looking for the agent for change, go no further than the nearest mirror.
Posted by bernie at July 7, 2004 10:59 AMTrackBack
I'm enjoying all of these political conversations that are going around the circle of blogs that I read. They are making me think and evaluate my positions on things so very much but I still don't think I'm ready or willing to fall into the party line. I've often said that there is no disillusionment like the disillusionment of a former true believer and I think that applies to me now. I used to be a serious true believer in the Democratic party. It just made sense to me that automatically a Democrat in any office was better than a Republican. I just don't feel that way anymore.
So I'm having a hard time reconciling myself with the assumption that I'm supposed to vote for Kerry. I honestly believed in Al Gore and thought he would have made a great president. I don't believe that of John Kerry. So what should he get my vote?
I understand your point about 'seeing past our own narrow issues' but on the other hand if I'm not voting for myself then what's the point of voting? When I believe that Candidate A is geniunely better than Candiate B in general and not necessarily on my own issues then yes I can see it but damn if I see much that appeals to me in Kerry.
Posted by: Michelle at July 7, 2004 12:58 PMIt is about seeing past your own issues so that you can recognize other people's issues, and ultimately our interconnectedness. We don't live in this world alone. We may think our issues are only our own to deal with but when we begin looking at our neighbors who may be different people dealing with different circumstances, we may discover there are a whole other set of issues we've never recognized that we both face together.
To not do this is to allow the far right--who clearly know how to form alliances within their narrow band--to win each election. And if that happens, how likely are you to get your issues addressed?
Posted by: Bernie at July 7, 2004 1:26 PMDamn. I'm printing this sucker and taping it to my cubicle.
Posted by: j. brotherlove at July 9, 2004 5:21 PM