As I had stated in a previous post, I don't believe in voting anymore, or to be more precise, I no longer have faith in the two-party political system.
Yes, there are more than two political parties in Canada and in the US, but truly, there have been only two political parties represented in political office on either side of the border for 1 and 1/2 centuries. This phony two-party, left/right, liberal/conservative, social/fiscal division has reduced party politics to the level of professional team sports -- where people will vote and support the decisions of "their side" while decrying the very same decisions when they are made by "the other side". Meanwhile the left and right-wing politicians have been reduced to appealing to the ever-changing whims of a small group of swing voters, since they are the only people who really decide who gets into office in the end. So now the focus of politics rests far more on creating a great image and ensuring that one gets elected than it does on creating actual policy. And this catering to a small group of special interests also ensures that people truly in need, i.e. the lower and working classes, get little to no attention, regardless of whether the right or left are in power.
There are also those who would tell us that this goes a step further, that this is done by design and that that all presidential and prime-ministerial candidates, from both the left and the right, are chosen long beforehand by the elite Powers That Be, via such groups as Bilderberg, the Trilateral Commission and The Council on Foreign Relations. Therefore the Right vs/ Left battles fought out for the media camera are nothing more than theatre for the masses. They use polarizing issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and gay-marriage debates to obscure and preoccupy us with emotional and unresolvable issues, endlessly, year after year. And even though these issues might only affect a small portion of overall society we divert our attentions to these issues while large and truly important and resolvable issues are ignored -- such as the North American obesity epidemic, the increasing gap between rich and poor, the laughable and costly "war on drugs", the laughable and costly "war on terror", the destruction of our flora and fauna, the imaginary and fraudulent reserve banking system, Codex Alimentarius, etc... And whether or not you believe in a "powerful elite" secretly pulling the strings, one cannot deny the corporate interests which now have their hand in politics; one cannot deny the power of the political lobbyists.
There was a time when asked about my political leanings I might have described myself as liberal or left-wing, but no longer. I realise now that it is wrong to force ourselves into these boxes we put ourselves in when we label ourselves.... Much like how I disagree with the idea "you're either straight or you're gay" idea of human sexuality, I also disagree with "you're either left-of-centre or right-of-centre". Humans are not that black and white. We vary greatly and lie within a spectrum of sexual preferences, political ideologies, philosophies, cultural backgrounds etc... etc... We should be focusing more on what unites us than what divides us.
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Here are some videos for anyone interested in investigating these ideas a little further:
This is the 4th part in a fascinating 4-part series done by Adam Curtis for the BBC titled "The Century of the Self". This series looks at how Freud's theories about the hidden desires and drives of man were used to manipulate the Western masses. The final part of this series deals with how the study of the psychology of the precious swing voters resulted in Thatcher and Reagan gaining political office in the 80s, and how the Clinton team learned from this and began to cater to the flippant and specific whims of the same small portion of society in order to get elected.
The following is an interview of Jeff Cohen, from the Park Center for Independent Media, where he talks about how corporate interests have been infiltrating the Democratic party in order to make it an "agent of the corporate right." He also speaks to how heavily Obama's candidacy was funded by corporate interests long before he was even considered to be a front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
Now, if you are interested in going even further down the rabbit hole, this documentary -- Alex Jones's The Obama Deception -- discusses how the agenda of the Obama administration has nothing to do with "hope and change" and how it is simply a front for Wall Street and corporate interests - just like the Bush, Clinton and Reagan administrations before it. The documentary also gets into the theory that the financial elite of the world are conspiring to bring about a one world government as part of their plans for a "New World Order" and controlling the populations of the world.
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It is my belief that politics have degenerated into nothing more than the WWE -- the only difference is that politicians generally wear business attire and rarely get into physical fisticuffs. I suppose that leaves us with the question: Why? Is this just out of sheer incompetency? Is it due to individual greed? Or could it actually be by design?
Whether or not you believe in a coming New World Order whose aims are to enslave us all, it is well established in any Western nations' constitutions, charters of rights etc... that the government is supposed to work for the people, not the other way around. So how is it that we've been convinced otherwise? And much like corporations, whose bottom line is profit, the bottom line of the politician is financial contributions, and so like the corporation who will cut whatever corners they can in order to make a profit the following year (by cutting jobs, cutting employee benefits, "accidentally" using lead paint on some toys, etc...), politicians cut out the pesky corners that don't hold any sway with the corporations that fund them (i.e. programs that help the social sector, environmental policies, product regulation and control). Our governments, whether lead by a "left wing" or "right wing" politician, also seem to be very interested in wars and there is no denying that wars are very profitable for banks, insurance companies and other corporations brought in to fight the war or "rebuild" after the war -- honourable and honest corporations like Blackwater and Halliburton...
So really, what does your vote count for anymore, other than helping someone to win a seat in office? That's if you even believe that our votes are actually counted at all... And do you really think that the actions of governments reflect the will of their peoples? And perhaps the biggest and most important question of all is: Cui bono?
