I never said I was voting for Nader. I made a rhetorical comment about looking at all the options now that my preferred choice has done something utterly boneheaded. That is all. Any assumptions about my voting personally for Nader were made by ymasen. I'm sorry you spent your time writing a well thought out response to a non-issue.
Voting is only a binary choice and a popularity contest because, we, the people, allowed it to become so through accepting the mass marketing and dumbing down of our election system.
Early days of this century, there were dozens of cola companies... now only two really matter. Why? Because once those two reached a certain size, it became obvious that if they marketed themselves as the *only* choices, they eventually would be... people would forget the rest over time. "Coke or Pepsi?" Remember that? It was a binary choice... a popularity contest. Can anyone really tell me they can taste much difference between the two any more? Once the field was cleared, the two moved much closer to each other in an attempt to take over each others' market share, until they are essentially indistinguishable from each other.
Exactly the same thing has happened with our political system. The Democrats and Republicans are hardly distinguishable any more... (Edwards helped pen the Patriot Act!) they've cleared the field by convincing everyone quite thoroughly, apparently, that they are the only two choices. That any other choice is 'wasted'... and those choices are dwindling rapidly because people *believe the marketing*.
Our election system is no more meaningful anymore than Coke vs. Pepsi or McDonald's vs. Burger King... and that's precisely how the folks at the top like it. We don't have free elections, we have two mass-marketed 'choices' that are shoved down our throats with all the precision of any other ad campaign.
And the easiest way to brainwash the masses (which is obvious has worked admirably), is to pit them against each other... anti-Dem, anti-Bush, anti-abortion, anti-war... you name it, it's preferred to have people be *anti* anything rather than *pro*... because people in a dither are more easily controlled.
We as a nation are letting the same people who brought us our fast food catastrophe dictate how we place our votes... and we're on the precipice of losing everything because of it. You think Bush curtailed personal rights? Wait until both sides do, in turns. (Hint: Edwards... Patriot Act...)
How we vote is not beside the point... it IS the point. Without that, we have no power left in this country, and it won't matter who we vote for, because the two sides will be essentially identical.
Let's face it, the voting process itself is fucked. One vote/one candidate is a statistical dinosaur. The electoral college needs to be revamped back to the original approach.
And the two party system needs to be put to rest as the lie that it is.
Will I vote for Kerry? Most likely... because after all is said and done, I'll probably still think that his *positions* are the best choice, and that he has the leadership quality to pull it off. I like Nader's positions on many things, but I don't think he has the experience or leadership to make it work. Never have. Clark and McCain were my two dream candidates, but of course glitz and rhetoric won out over substance, as is usual in the mass marketing culture we live in.
Coke or Pepsi?
Big Mac or Whopper?
Bush or Kerry?
It's all the same anymore... and no one seems to be able to see that.
Well done, Madison Ave., well done. The sheep are aligned for the pit.
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Well said, but...
Date: 2004-07-06 04:37 pm (UTC)Voting is only a binary choice and a popularity contest because, we, the people, allowed it to become so through accepting the mass marketing and dumbing down of our election system.
Early days of this century, there were dozens of cola companies... now only two really matter. Why? Because once those two reached a certain size, it became obvious that if they marketed themselves as the *only* choices, they eventually would be... people would forget the rest over time. "Coke or Pepsi?" Remember that? It was a binary choice... a popularity contest. Can anyone really tell me they can taste much difference between the two any more? Once the field was cleared, the two moved much closer to each other in an attempt to take over each others' market share, until they are essentially indistinguishable from each other.
Exactly the same thing has happened with our political system. The Democrats and Republicans are hardly distinguishable any more... (Edwards helped pen the Patriot Act!) they've cleared the field by convincing everyone quite thoroughly, apparently, that they are the only two choices. That any other choice is 'wasted'... and those choices are dwindling rapidly because people *believe the marketing*.
Our election system is no more meaningful anymore than Coke vs. Pepsi or McDonald's vs. Burger King... and that's precisely how the folks at the top like it. We don't have free elections, we have two mass-marketed 'choices' that are shoved down our throats with all the precision of any other ad campaign.
And the easiest way to brainwash the masses (which is obvious has worked admirably), is to pit them against each other... anti-Dem, anti-Bush, anti-abortion, anti-war... you name it, it's preferred to have people be *anti* anything rather than *pro*... because people in a dither are more easily controlled.
We as a nation are letting the same people who brought us our fast food catastrophe dictate how we place our votes... and we're on the precipice of losing everything because of it. You think Bush curtailed personal rights? Wait until both sides do, in turns. (Hint: Edwards... Patriot Act...)
How we vote is not beside the point... it IS the point. Without that, we have no power left in this country, and it won't matter who we vote for, because the two sides will be essentially identical.
Let's face it, the voting process itself is fucked. One vote/one candidate is a statistical dinosaur. The electoral college needs to be revamped back to the original approach.
And the two party system needs to be put to rest as the lie that it is.
Will I vote for Kerry? Most likely... because after all is said and done, I'll probably still think that his *positions* are the best choice, and that he has the leadership quality to pull it off. I like Nader's positions on many things, but I don't think he has the experience or leadership to make it work. Never have. Clark and McCain were my two dream candidates, but of course glitz and rhetoric won out over substance, as is usual in the mass marketing culture we live in.
Coke or Pepsi?
Big Mac or Whopper?
Bush or Kerry?
It's all the same anymore... and no one seems to be able to see that.
Well done, Madison Ave., well done. The sheep are aligned for the pit.