Stop playing THEIR game. Take back control. Take back YOUR nation. Time to
boycott voting. This strategy is consistent with the thinking of Gandhi and
King: peaceful resistance to political tyranny that can bring the corrupt system
to its knees. Ultimately, the most effective protest is through civil disobedience
-- to visibly and stubbornly refuse to respect what has become a corrupt, untrustworthy
system. Before it can be fixed it must be deconstructed and then rebuilt. Taxation
with MISrepresentation means we need a Second American Revolution; it must begin
-- not with violent action -- but with massive withdrawal by citizens who have
seen the light. We have a good head start with about half of eligible voters
already so turned off that they don’t vote. Obviously that has not been
sufficient to change the system.
There will be negative, defensive knee-jerk reactions to this audacious strategy.
Let’s examine them:
Many will think that taking such action violates our responsibility as citizens.
But taking that responsibility seriously as engaged citizens in the Jeffersonian
sense must reflect that there is still a valid contract between citizens and
their government. When we vote we have the right to a political system that
respects we the people and gives us an authentic representative democracy. We
have a right to a constitutional republic operating under the rule of law. But
we have elected representatives that no longer have the public interest as their
primary commitment, nor truly honor and respect our Constitution.
They have been corrupted by corporate and other special interests that fund
their campaigns to get the laws, loopholes and largesse they want. They have
been corrupted by power and the perks of office. They are political cowards
and mostly intellectual midgets. The two major parties have a stranglehold on
our political system that no longer merits our participation in their crooked
game. Political parties are not part of our Constitution and the two-party duopoly
has demonstrated that both Democrats and Republicans put their own interests
above those of we the people, our nation and our democracy. We cannot vote our
way out of our current, dreadful political system.
Whether you are on the political left or right, you will fear that not voting
will help put in office people that support policies your abhor. But decades
of objective political reality tell us that even people from the party that
we align with do not, when elected, fulfill their promises and our hopes. Sadly,
most Americans have become lesser-evil voters, deluding themselves that this
is the best, least worse, yet awful choice. Instead of feeling bad about voting
for candidates that we know in our hearts are not worthy of our votes and public
office, we must have the courage to say “enough is enough; I will not
play in this shameful game any longer.” We must stop legitimizing and
abetting our disgraceful government.
Many may fear that not voting sets a terrible example to children. But isn’t
it more important to tell America’s children that true patriotism must
reveal itself by rejecting a political system that no longer merits respect?
Thomas Jefferson believed in periodic rebellion. Now is the time for all good
Americans to come to the rescue of their nation, peacefully by boycotting elections.
The small number of third party members may be screaming: yes, don’t
vote for Democrats and Republicans; come over and join us! I have been a strong
third party supporter, but we must face the painful truth. The two major parties
have so rigged the political system in their favor and against third parties
that voting for third party candidates for federal office is a futile action.
We must first boycott voting to create sufficient pressure to open the system
to genuine political competition. That requires a number of electoral reforms,
possible if the nation gets its first Article V convention (see www.foavc.org).
With reforms we can increase voter turnout to over 90 percent, as routinely
seen in other democracies.
False patriotism may cause some to think that we must not show anti-American
nations and terrorists that our government no longer has the trust of its citizens.
But that has already been widely disseminated by endless polls and surveys,
including the recent Zogby poll that found a record-low 11 percent support for
Congress. Better to show our enemies that we the people have finally awakened
and decided to reassert our sovereignty and restore American democracy. Loyalty
to country, yes; loyalty to government, no. Our populist American insurgency
must begin with a boycott of voting.
Proof that this extraordinary strategy can work is that by now diehard Democrats
and Republicans reading this are squirming in discomfort. So spread the word,
if you have not deluded yourself about voting the nation into a far, far better
place. Time to boycott voting. Join the picket line; admit that none of the
above is the only rational decision when the choices the two major parties give
us for federal officials are not worth a dime.
Voting in a delusional representative democracy is as harebrained as voting
even though you know votes will not be honestly counted -- which many fear may
be true. We may have lost control of our government, but we still control our
voting. Time to walk away from the brainwashing and fiction that it really matters
which Democrat or Republican you vote for in primaries and general elections
for federal office. Power elites want us to believe that. They collude with
the corporate mainstream media that make tons of money from campaigns and want
you to stay glued to suspenseful horse races. Loud-mouth political pundits that
narrate the races are democracy’s enemies. We must stop watching and listening
to the political entertainment designed to keep us obediently mesmerized, as
if the game is honest. Without an audience, these phony races and media circuses
will disappear.
Don’t be fooled by the large number of candidates in the Democratic and
Republican presidential primaries. It is a sham -- a scheme to keep spectators
glued to the illusory competition. Ron Paul has as much chance of being the
Republican nominee as Dennis Kucinich has of being the Democratic nominee. With
power elites controlling both major parties, zero chance for them and the other
minor candidates, regardless of their grassroots support. Reflect on how both
major parties accept lots of candidates in televised debates in the primary
season. But come the general election with prime time televised presidential
debates they keep out third party candidates that desperately need that exposure
to rally meaningful support. Such is the hypocrisy and disdain of the two-party
duopoly.
Come Election Day in 2008 we should party and celebrate (with TVs turned off)
our populist boycott of voting and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow patriots.
We must help them resist any late urge to vote, because by then millions of
dollars will be spent by many special interests to make us feel guilty and ashamed
if we do not vote. I can hear Paul Revere now: The liars are coming! The liars
are coming! All that advertising and pundit-screaming to herd us back into the
voting booths will verify that our boycott strategy works.
With having the votes of only a small minority of the electorate, whoever becomes
president will have no public mandate except major, systemic political reforms
that satisfy the will of the people. Either that or accept being the president
of a fake democracy on the world scene.
Be brave. Stick together. Save voting for a reformed political system worthy
of respect and participation.
Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy -- Delusional
Democracy -- Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government that presents
many electoral and other reforms; he can be contacted through www.delusionaldemocracy.com.
Formerly, he was a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology
Assessment and the National Governors Association.