Why didn't nearly half of the electorate bother to vote in the last presidential election? Why are many people annoyed when the subject turns to politics? When I have volunteered to make calls for candidates, most people won't take the time to talk to me. It seems they are too busy with their hectic lives and they fail to see how it affects them. I don't see it that way.
I'm a typical taxpaying American worker and I realize it's my responsibility to pay for roads and schools and police and our government institutions. But, it seems to me at least 1/2 of my tax dollar is being misspent. My tax dollars are funding a government that is dedicated to serving the interests of the rich and the multinational corporations. My tax dollars pay for death and destruction, and for making enemies all over the planet. Half of my tax dollars are actually working against my interests!
Some of my after tax dollars are spent buying gas for my car. In so doing, I support Exxon so they can lobby congress for more tax breaks and military support for their overseas operations. If I stop at Wal Mart for some new sneakers, I'm contributing to the trade deficit because Wal Mart and their friends in congress have decided that underpaid Chinese workers should make my sneakers, and that we should stop manufacturing anything here.
So, about 2 hours of my 8-hour day, are spent to facilitate a system, which will make it more difficult for me to feed, clothe, and house my family. The next two hours just bring me back up to zero. Half my day is shot, and I haven't made any real progress! The solution to these problems lies in politics, but politics don't matter? What if my kids are drafted into one of these illegal wars, then will it matter?
Politics is the only tool we have to regain control when we see our government headed in the wrong direction. We must act while there is still something left of the democratic process. Some of my friends don't think there is any hope of success (pointing to the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004). Obviously, there is no hope if we all give up. If we allow ourselves to become comfortably numb, it will be a short lived comfort. There are forces that are taking more and more advantage of us as we become more and more complacent.
These are not ordinary times in politics. During the last century, we might have ignored elections and still found ourselves with much the same country four years later. But not today. The disparity in the distribution of wealth has reached a new record. The Bush administration has gained unprecedented control over all three branches of government. The "free press," has been bought out by huge corporations that profit from the continued ignorance of the electorate. The National Security Agency wiretaps us while the telecoms offer to help. Unilateral preemptive military strikes are now acceptable. The Bush administration abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and now plans to build new nuclear weapons, and actually discusses using them against Iran! They are giving billions of our tax dollars to "faith based initiatives" in spite of Constitutional separation of church and state. Bush is above the law. He is the “decider”, and doesn't have to explain his decisions. He issues “signing statements,” which show that he will interpret the law as he pleases. We are borrowing trillions of dollars from the next generation, so that we can give tax breaks to the super rich. Bush wants to privatize social security, large parts of the military, and the voting process itself! If we do not act quickly, our vote not only may not count, it may not be counted! In five years, our country has already undergone very fundamental changes.
Get involved. Support progressive candidates. Talk to your friends and neighbors, and get them to the polls November 7th in numbers large enough to overwhelm those who tamper with voting machines and gerrymander our districts. If the democrats can take 15 seats in the House, then we will begin to see congressional oversight, which has been completely laking in the Republican controlled House.
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