So this round of elections are over and there’s some new blood in congress, and of course, the war is going to stop, the world will stop hating us and the oceans will stop rising. Thank god for that! As I heard someone quite accurately quote this morning of The Who, “Meet the new boss… Same as the old boss…” I think it’s good that people will get to understand that first hand. It’s too bad that Kerry didn’t get elected so we could have learned that lesson a couple years ago.
Such is life in a two party system… but wait, is that really true? I say what we function under is a perceived two party system. There are lots of parties outside of team donkey and team elephant, including the Greens, Libertarians, and Reforms party just to name a few. But you wouldn’t know it if you relied on just the main stream media and even your local election boards. Last night I saw on CNN’s election ticker where a gubernatorial race was listed as 60% for the Republican candidate and then underneath that is said “no democrat in race” or something to that effect. So no one else counts? Who’s getting the rest of those votes? Shouldn’t that be pertinent? I didn’t know it was so journalistic to just ignore 2nd place if it wasn’t a Dem or Rep. When I was checking websites this morning both the main networks and even the Florida state government election sites I kept seeing Ind and No Party Affiliates next to everyone who wasn’t a Democrat or Republican.
So, wow, there are just that many people just striking out on their own that have no affiliation to a party? Actually, when I did my research, you know press guys, that thing you’re supposed to do while you are just regurgitating the AP and Reuters wires, it was easy to see at a moments glance of any so called “third party” candidates’ websites exactly what party affiliations they had. But apparently it’s not important because only Republicans or Democrats count. Thanks for setting us straight guys, if it wasn’t for you we might actually have a perception closer to reality. So, for the record America, there are other parties, better parties, I myself like the Libertarians. all you have to do is stop letting other people think for you and you can stop voting for the lesser of two evils and feeling dirty enough to have to take a shower when leaving the polls.
I think that is one of the main factors for low voter turnout, the pain of having to choose between extremist A or extremist B when most Americans have a wide range of mixed philosophies and don’t realize that there are other parties that might fit you better. Rachel over at Country Mouse, Mickey Mouse has an excellent post with some well thought out observations on why voter turnout and civic duty in general sits the bench in so many people’s lives.
