The Two-Party Chokehold

There's a much bigger issue this general election than whether you vote or what candidate you choose. It's the same glaring issue that's been around for every general election that has taken place during my lifetime and probably yours too. It's something I like to refer to as the two-party chokehold and it's slowly and effectively hobbling and killing our democracy. Yet, no one really seems to want to do anything about it. Everyone is more concerned with the symptoms of this horrible affliction rather than focusing on the underlying illness. And every general election, I hear people whining and complaining about the horrible choices for president that have been conveniently shoved under their noses by the two major parties in this country. The entire process of selecting presidential candidates is controlled by these two major parties. So much so, that the majority of Americans believe that there are only two viable choices every four years for president; either the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate. If you vote for anyone else, well, you're just wasting your vote. That's utter bullshit. Seriously, folks. 

As of October 19, 2020, 1,222 candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for President of the United States of America. That number even surprised me when I read it. Well over ONE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED OFFICIALLY-REGISTERED CANDIDATES. I guarantee you 99% of the population can only name the Republican and the Democratic candidates. If you're lucky, you might find one or two folks who can name the Libertarian or Green Party candidates too. So why, with 1,222 registered presidential candidates, are we all focused on just two so-called "viable" choices for president? Well, because that's how the Democrats and the Republicans want it and that's how it's been for decades upon decades. And it's just getting worse with each general election. We seem to be presented with progressively worse "choices" each election cycle; the prime example of this being the 2016 election. If you're a progressive, logical, morally-grounded type person who deals in facts, you're probably still dumbfounded that such an awful, egotistical, misogynistic, racist, inept, narcissistic moron like Donald Trump could EVER win the Republican nomination and eventually the election to become the 45th President of the United States. But the way I see it is if you give folks two shitty choices for president, how can you be surprised by the outcome? 

Donald Trump's presidency is a direct result of the two-party chokehold. The efforts of the Democratic and Republican parties to game elections to their favor without ever letting any outside candidates or parties have a fair shot. The monster that is Donald Trump has the Republican Party to thank for his power. Both major parties consistently place loyalty to the party over loyalty to the nation and its citizens. The key here is BOTH parties are to blame. This isn't just a Republican thing. That should be blatantly obvious to anyone who even distantly follows what goes on in Congress or Senate proceedings. It's all about which party has the upper hand. And it sucks. It's wrong. It's NOT what our founding fathers had envisioned for America.

In 1796, as George Washington neared the end of his second term as the first president of the United States, he had his longtime friend and fellow founding father, Alexander Hamilton, draft a farewell address for him. One of the three main things that Washington warned about in this farewell address was the danger of letting loyalty to a particular party become more important than loyalty to the nation as a whole. Washington wasn't a member of any official political party when he was president, but he was witnessing the emergence of such parties (e.g., Federalists and Republicans) during his time in office. Obviously, he didn't like what he was seeing, and justifiably so if we fast-forward to the present day two-party chokehold that's been firmly strangling this democracy for decades. 

The Democratic and Republican parties each have one goal, and one goal only: to gain and maintain as much political power as they possibly can so that the party's agenda -not the nation's agenda, mind you- can be advanced. Period. End of story. This explains why the Republican party, as a whole, has fallen in line behind the worst example of a human being to ever occupy the Oval Office. Trump is a spoiled, childish, egotistical nimwit. He's pretty much failed at everything he's ever done but, unlike most of us, he had his family's money to bail him out time and time again. And, thanks to the smoke-and-mirrors magic of television, he and his producer were able to convince millions of TV viewers that he was this successful billionaire hiring and firing folks on The Apprentice for 15 seasons. I'm sure the majority of Republicans had a nice chuckle when Trump first announced we was running. But once he was able to show just how gullible, stupid, and fed up a large portion of the American population was, and that his moronic bravado and gusto seemed to be working, how quickly all those Republicans changed their tunes. Now, we seriously have this alternate reality created by Trump and all his Republican cronies keep drinking and sharing the organge Kool-Aid as if it was gospel. Why? Because the Republican party wants to gain and maintain as much political power as they possibly can to further their agenda. Never mind there's an imbecile as their leader making the White House look like the world's biggest dumpster fire. Never mind the constitution is being trampled upon and our democracy is looking more and more like a three-ring circus complete with a car full of clowns disguised as an admistration. They don't care. The Republican party doesn't care. They don't care about honesty, integrity, democracy, equality -none of that. They only care that, right now, their party has the upper hand and they have to do everything and anything to maintain and/or increase that power. And, again, let me stress, if the roles were reversed, the Democratic party would be doing the EXACT SAME THING. If you think a "Trump" candidate can't happen in the Democratic party, you're fooling yourself. It can and it will if we continue to ignore this two-party chokehold. 

I am so freakin' tired of seeing people being harassed and ridiculed for voting for a third-party candidate. They are told they are either wasting their vote or they are told they are to blame when their friends' candidate (i.e., "the lesser of two evils") loses. Let me address this "wasted vote" myth one more time while we're at it. In my opinion, the only "wasted" vote is an unprincipled vote. You should vote for someone that you believe is the BEST person for the job, regardless what race, religion, color, or party they happen to be. In its purest, most basic form, voting is your opportunity to tell your country what YOUR vision of government and society is. Voting should not be strategic. The lesser of two evils is still evil. Why is that so hard to understand? If some guy walks up to me and tells me, "Dude, you have two choices; either I stab you in the arm, or I stab you in the leg." Obviously, neither of those choices work AT ALL for me. So I'm not going to spend any time strategizing about whether I should let him stab me in the arm or the leg. Nope. I'm going to come up with a different choice. One that makes the most sense to me and my well-being. It'll probably involve either hitting this dude as hard as I can and/or running away as fast as I can. Why? Because I'm not going to make a bad choice just because it's not quite as bad to me as the other bad choice. This is a no-brainer, folks! Voting for the lesser of two evils is not "voting" -it's simply selling out your personal beliefs and becoming the political prostitute that the two major parties want you to become. And one more point to make here: You, as an individual, will never cast the deciding ballot! This "wasted vote" argument is always cited in the races where it applies least. For instance, the Presidency of the United States. A Presidential race will NEVER be decided by one vote. And if by some mathematical chance it got that close, it would be decided politically by Congress. So please, shut up about third party voting. VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE.

Sorry, I digressed there. The main point of this entire diatribe is to say our system, our democracy is broken -and getting more broken every day by this two-party chokehold. I'm tired of hearing the same people complain about the same thing every damned general election without being willing or able to realize the underlying cause. Nothing will change until the majority of Americans realize THIS IS NO TIME FOR PARTIES and work together to do something about that. It ain't gonna be easy. The two major parties have a lot of power, money, and influence; three things they're both intent on keeping and increasing. But you can't fix a problem until you identify it as such and I'm afraid too many people will just never get it. I hope I'm wrong.