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Democracy for sale - it's OUR FAULT
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Democracy for sale - it's OUR FAULT Everybody complains about the fact that the 'special interests' have a huge say in what happens in this country. Those gripes are especially common among Democrats, although some prominent GOP candidates have been heard to say something about money and politics (namely: McCain, co-author of the ''McCain-Feingold'' campaign reform bill). I think that the 'special interests' do have a powerful position - especially when it comes to the tax code - but also when we're trying to solve ''big problems'' such as social security, health ins., immigration, etc. Most American voters are fairly committed to one party or another. But since we're about evenly divided, a small fraction of swing voters tend to make the difference in both Presidential elections, as well as in 'purple states.' Some of these 'swing voters' are genuinely independent - they do their best to stay informed, and find themselves in sympathy with both parties on certain policies, and opposed to one party or the other on additional issues. But many voters who 'swing' American elections (especially national general elections) are those who vote based on the last, worst, negative television ad that they've seen. Or the most derisive, belittling description of a candidate that they've heard. They don't vote for anything, but against something. (These are the folks who bought the big lie that Iraq attacked the U.S. on 9/11. Who cares what the 9/11 Commission said?) It wouldn't take a whole lot of time for all of us to either stay away from the polls, or practice the Civic Duty that so many brave troops have died for ... namely, to inform ourselves on the issues, by using independent sources, such as C-Span, etc. There are millions of 'swing voters' in the country who justify the paychecks of political consultants, and Washington lobbyists (again: I'm not talking about all ''swing voters,'' just the ignorant ones). It's not the 'special interests' who threaten the vitality of our democracy. It's intellectually-lazy people who let their emotions rule their rationality, and who have the temerity to show up at the polls, and choose based on their TV-nurtured biases. They don't have a clue about the issues: their concept of elections was shaped in high school, when they voted for Homecoming Court. That said, this is the very mixture of capitalism and democracy envisioned by the Founders. The Founders saw democracy as a mechanism for electing the institutions that would allow economic interests to settle their differences within a Constitutional framework (as opposed to by force). That's why the Founders designed the U.S. Senate to be a body elected by the state legislatures, and felt that only (non-slave) male property holders should vote. The Founders were terrified of the ''tyranny of the majority.'' The irony here is that we have come full circle. Having given everyone the right to vote, and having done everything we can to enforce it, we are still left with a system in which money talks. And money talks only because there are a small number of us who refuse to listen to anything besides slick television advertisements, and who continue to behave in the polling booth as if they're still seventeen, and ''going with the flow.'' If this is in fact democracy for sale, we have only ourselves to blame. I'm sorry to say this, but the Founders would be cheering. We've decided to run our elections based on the most powerful economic interests. Marx would also be happy, as we dutifully elect the ''Executive Committee of the Bourgoisie.'' If you're not annoyed so far, let me add that Marx was not talking about ''small businesses,'' which he referred to as the petite bourgoisie. He was talking about the big industrialists - the major capitalists. So next time you see someone who wants to vote, and who doesn't have a clue about the issues, or about what they actually think ... ask them to stay home on election day 
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