It’s late October, 2020, and I woke up to a foggy morning here in America. Your trusted TPD podcaster, “Phil,” is wearing his blogging hat today, sipping his coffee, peering out into the fog, looking for familiar shapes.
There’s a gravel lane leading from the main road up to my hideout here. On a clear day, when I walk down to the end of the lane and look to the left, I can see a Biden 2020 sign that someone felt compelled to stake out near the road. I like the clever graphics: Red, white, and blue, and the E in Biden is done up like the stripes on the American flag. If I look to the right, I’ll see another sign that says “All Aboard the Trump Train.” The graphics on this sign might be even better: There’s a flag AND a train. Neither sign will be clear to me this morning due to the fog and all. So I’m not walking down there.
J.P. Voter
This year, as usual, we’re being told that our votes for President of the United States (POTUS) will be more important than ever. Also, as usual, we are being told that there are only two choices for POTUS: a Republican and a Democrat. Sigh. Of course, these are the same old songs we hear every election year.
I wonder if voters will be surprised to see the other presidential candidates on their ballots this year? I wonder if they’ll be curious as to who these “others” might be, wonder why they’ve never heard of them? Basically, I wonder if they’ll wonder. In my wondering I’ve cooked up a fantasy, and I’ll share it with you. It goes something like this:
Meet J.P. Voter from Anystate, USA. J.P. is a real person just like you, who eats and sleeps and farts, and who has developed an uncanny ability to shed labels that have nothing to do with being a human being, i.e., J.P. refuses to be defined by background, ethnicity, beliefs, gender, or anything else.
J.P. Voter thinks both Trump and Biden are abysmal – at best, a couple of lousy actors, doing a piss-poor job of convincing anyone that they’re not agents of fascism; at worst, the latest appointees of a hidden and unspeakable evil. J.P. has almost surrendered to the belief that votes count for nothing at all. In no small part, this is due to the fact that the media relentlessly encourages voting, and J.P. knows that the media has an agenda. But … J.P. actually WANTS to vote. Not because an individual vote will shine through the corrupt and filtered aggregate, but because it’s important to exercise one’s voice even if it’s the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear it.
J.P. suspects that the system is rigged in a subtle way where collective voting is still influential, but where all votes are steered toward an illusory “choice,” i.e., the Big Media Lie is not so much “Your Vote Counts;” the Big Media Lie is “If You Don’t Vote Republican or Democrat, You’re Throwing Your Vote Away.” J.P. suspects that the Elephants and Donkeys are now playing on the same team: Republicrats.
J.P. does some research and ends up on Anystate’s Secretary of State website. On there is a sample ballot for J.P.’s voting district, a sneak preview of what everyone will see when they go into the voting booth on November 3rd. J.P. is delighted to see FIVE presidential candidates on his sample ballot instead of just two. All the other candidates for state and local offices are on there also; this isn’t only a presidential election, after all. No longer trapped in a lesser-of-two evils paradigm, J.P. feels a glimmer of hope. An internal voice says, “Maybe one of these other three presidential candidates deserves my vote. I wonder who all these other state and local candidates are. What do they stand for? I’ve got their names and party affiliations now, so I better get to research’n.”
Two-party System?
Although the public has been effectively persuaded by the media to believe otherwise, the United States of America does NOT have a two-party political system. We have many, many political party choices. There are currently over 30. In addition, people at the federal, state, and local levels are actually getting themselves elected to office without being affiliated with the Democratic or Republican Parties. Did you know that long-time Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, is not actually a Democrat? He was elected to the U.S. Senate as an Independent and has remained so throughout his tenure, and he was previously with the Socialist Workers Party and the Liberty Union Party. Did you know that Michigan congressman, Justin Amash, is a Libertarian? It’s true!
As of October 19, 2020, one thousand two hundred twenty-two (1,222) candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for president, and only 488 of them (less than 40%) are Democrats and Republicans. In the 2020 election, forty-seven (47) states will have Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, on the POTUS ballot. Have you heard of him? All fifty (50) states will have Libertarian Party candidate, Jo Jorgensen, on the POTUS ballot. Have you heard of her?
With the Worldwide Web at our disposal (for now, that is!), it’s quite easy to learn about all the candidates for any election. But in order to do so, we have to use the internet as a tool, whereby we proactively search for information using trusted search engines. If we allow the internet, social and news feeds, and other media to operate in their (default) passive mode, quite simply, we’ll only receive what THEY want us to receive. And we know where that leads. In the context of this discussion, it leads to the incorrect belief that we are, in fact, voting and living within a two-party political system (containment – blah!), when, in fact, our choices are not limited to two (freedom – hooray!).
J.P. Voter has one thing right: The fix is in. Democrats and Republicans are positioned as the only viable choices in modern U.S. elections. So naturally, most campaign funding and media attention flows that-a-way. Having passive media exposure to only Red and Blue, peoples’ voting mainly follows suit. We have to go back to 1992, to find a third-party POTUS candidate that caused a blip on the presidential election radar. That was Independent, Ross Perot, who was personally wealthy enough (and fed up enough with Republicrats) to purchase enough television time to trigger public awareness. Perot even got himself up on the debate stage – quite an achievement.
The Republicrat Riddle
Is the false dichotomy of Democrat versus Republican (or… Blue versus Red; or…Donkeys versus Elephants; or Left versus Right; or… X versus Y) simply the inevitable, evolutionary result of a feedback loop in advertising, propaganda, and whatever? A case where big political parties are able to generate funding and influence to fuels their own growth, which then leads to more funding and influence?
For example, Coke and Pepsi use their existing money and influence to maintain their near 70% dominance of the carbonated soft drink (CSK) market to the extent that all other CDKs, although numerous and delicious, are reduced to what’s-their-names. Is it logical that the Democratic Party and Republican Party have come to dominate the “political market” in the same natural, evolutionary way?
I’m not so sure. What if, behind the curtain, the Reds and Blues are in cahoots?
In terms of fundamental ingredients as well as the propensity to satisfy thirst, provide nutrition, and cause tooth decay and diabetes, Coke and Pepsi are identical products. However, since they evolved in a competitive marketplace, and are not, in fact, “made in the same factory and then poured into bottles with different labels” it makes sense for the market to be split based on individual taste preferences. (Historically, monopolies do not form unless there is government intervention.)
When it comes to political parties, however, I suspect that elected Republicans and Democrats in ALL higher levels in ALL three government branches – legislative, executive, and judicial – are, in fact, “made in the same factory and then given different labels.” The evidence for this is in elected officials’ behavior while in office.
For example: While in office Trump, a “Republican” acted as an authoritarian by continually bypassing the legislative process with restrictions contained within “executive orders,” funded a larger government via massive deficit spending, leveraged the future of all Americans via debt-funded bail-outs, and kept us engaged in overseas warfare. While in office Trump’s predecessor, Obama, a “Democrat” acted as an authoritarian by continually bypassing the legislative process with restrictions contained within “executive orders,” funded a larger government via massive deficit spending, leveraged the future of all Americans via debt-funded bail-outs, and kept us engaged in overseas warfare.
It looks to me like Democrats and Republicans alike are failing the Pepsi Challenge. So please allow me to now rephrase what I wrote up above…
In terms of fundamental ingredients (fascism) as well as the propensity to satisfy thirst (people’s real needs), provide nutrition (preserve national security and economic health), and cause tooth decay and diabetes (create societal disruption and imbalance), Coke and Pepsi (Democrats and Republicans) are identical products (political parties).
Phil’s Two Cents
Voting may indeed count, but in the end, a vote for Red or Blue in a presidential, congressional, or other higher election may actually be a vote for the same things, thus becoming a throw-away vote. Luckily, we have more than two choices in most elections, even when we are persuaded to believe otherwise. Breaking this spell requires some J.P. Voter style gumption plus a pinch of research. Some pioneer moxie, if you will. Giddyap!
– “Phil”
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