Opinion Editorials, September 2012

Well, the second half of the quadrennial political charade is over, President Barack Obama making his case for a second term in office before a friendly audience of militant Democrats at the convention in Charlotte.  Tongue-in-arm Joe Biden, likely to be held accountable for his “America’s best days are ahead of us” remark, introduced the POTUS to give his acceptance speech as candidate Barack Obama; a speech no more sincere or crafted in reality than that given by Republican candidate Mitt Romney a week earlier in Tampa. 

Now it’s official; with sixty days left for the twins, TweedleBar’k and TweedleMitt (Tweedledum and Tweedledee), to slug it out before the November 6 election.  Both candidates’ campaigns will be masking the criticality in the problems besetting today’s America, as well as future America; that is, the future for 80 percent of Americans, as much of the middle class continues to be erased in this global economy.  Politicians of both parties know that the truth, if told and explained to the American electorate, would bury them all in a communal grave, so they rely in keeping the masses ignorant of that truth and fantasy-hopeful of the nation’s return to the economic glory days of generations past.   

Best way in which voters can show Repudiation of American Politics (RAP) is by parking their vote in a neutral zone with little or no controversy with their voice of dissatisfaction heard by not voting Red or Blue.  G-R-E-E-N comes to mind as the best bet among all small parties where the dissent RAP vote could be parked.  My own “RAP vote” this coming November 6 will have me casting my ballot for the Green folks, with Julie Stein as Green Party candidate to occupy the White House.  Although the Green Party is not likely to represent all the diversity encompassed in those who are dissatisfied with the existing corrupt duopoly, it offers a home refuge in beliefs that most of us accept in general, if not wholeheartedly; at least for the purpose of common dissent. 

The Green Party’s 2010 platform tackles topics in democracy, social justice, ecological sustainability and economic justice & sustainability in a healthy and reasonable manner.  It also tackles the subject of peace and war the only sane way, in contrast to the warmongering and belligerent imperialism exhibited by both Democrat and Republican platforms under the mask of national defense; foreign policy is viewed with a thrust towards friendship and peace, not animosity towards other nations, regions or peoples; greed is confronted with the need for fair taxation; and there is even an attempt to curb the insatiable demands placed by corporate power.  At least true progressives should feel right at home with much of what is espoused in the Green Party’s platform.  And so, would most true independents.

Whether or not our own political philosophy is in cadence with that of the Green Party, or comes reasonably close, there is another significant reason to cast the disaffected vote in the Greens’ zone.  As of this date, although petitioning for ballot access is already closed everywhere, the GP is already on the ballot in most states (a few as a write-in); not just the most populous states where it can show its muscle with possible high numbers, but also in those critical states with a closely-contested vote between Democrats and Republicans, the so-called battleground states.  It is possible that the Green vote could help deliver, indirectly, critical electoral votes to the greater of the “two evils”… but it really shouldn’t matter since ultimately we’ll come to realize that evil is evil, not to be looked at in quantifiable grades, but that all 50 shades of evil are bad.

The Electoral College, a truly undemocratic body in charge of electing the president needs to be done away with and democracy ushered back in; and 2012 might end up being a year in which a noteworthy minority of voters might elect a president via the Electoral College with a substantive lesser number of votes, perhaps as high as 5 percent lower than that of the losing candidate.      

In the eight weeks left to the election, we will be giving our rationale, hopefully in convincing ways, of why a vote cast (or parked) in the “green zone” might be the only effective way left, save armed revolution, for bringing about political change in America and a return to democracy.

Ben Tanosborn

www.tanosborn.com 

[email protected]

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