The Prez on Voting

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes ‘Twas his intent,
To blow up the King and Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow….

On November 5th, 1605 a Catholic explosives expert named Guy Fawkes was arrested in a tunnel in the depths of London as he prepared to position enough explosives capable of blowing up the Houses of Parliament as part of a larger conspiracy to create revolution in England. This story of coarse was recently brought to many Americans via the film V for Vendetta in 2005, the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Treason. In the film, a masked anti-government “freedom fighter” seeks to bring about the downfall of a totalitarian regime by blowing up symbols of institutional power and creating chaos in the hopes of aggressively agitating the people to stand up to their nihilistic overlords.

If the film has a redeeming quality, it is its message that the power of words is the most accessible weapon of choice for the masses to create socio-cultural change. Anyone could have just bought a KRS-One album to figure this out, but this message is especially important when responding to our “Silent Obedient Consent” in the face of fear politics, exploitation, and scapegoating by both conservatives and liberals in power. Of course, the films’ message is lost in the face of the protagonist’s thirst for violence and destruction, i.e. his vendetta. According to Wikipedia, David Walsh, from the World Socialist Website criticizes V's actions as "antidemocratic" and cites the film as an example of "the bankruptcy of anarcho-terrorist ideology" ,stating that because the people have not played any part in the revolution, they will be unable to produce a "new, liberated society." I must say, despite my own revolutionary tendencies, I felt the same way after viewing the film. Revolutions that extol demagoguery are shakier then Drew Bledsoe in the pocket, and a hell of a lot more destructive.

As we race toward an election this Tuesday and look ahead to 2008, it is important to take this time to reflect on the notion of voting as a means of creating change. Now, let it be known, that the Prez feels that the potential for creating regime change via the voting booth represents the best of our nature as human beings. It is what separates us from the irrationality of extremism seen around the world. With that said, I feel that it is time that people re-examine the entire apparatus of voting in America. As I have stated in the past, after two major voting catastrophes in 2000 and 2004, my confidence in the current system has been shaken, seemingly forever. While this coming Tuesday there remains the potential for optimism, I feel it lies more in competition then in seeking to create a more perfect world.

In a recent interview, Bill Clinton said that Democrats should see the example of Republican rule for the past 6 years. Even with total control, they GOP has squandered it’s political capital and defamed many of the principles it held paramount. (Fiscal Responsibility? Switchgrass? No Child Left Behind? Please….) Thus, it is left to the masses to fill the void where logic and political policies are at a disconnect. Unlike his penchant for fat chicks, Clinton is not wrong about this.

"You Gotta Pay What You Owe !"-Huey Freeman, The Boondocks

My biggest concern now is that the masses are a bunch of idiots. Even if I am wrong about this, aspects of our human nature seek safety and security that also allow us to be deceived, bought, and unable to lash out against tyranny in our times of need. It is learned hopelessness. Even as the injustices and inequities of the Westphalian State gives way to our collective silence through the process of Globalization, middle and lower class Americans seek not control, but a piece of the pie. It energizes us to seek the American Dream, even as we become increasingly marginalized as a whole and the American Dream becomes an impossible carrot that keeps us under the proverbial thumb of the ruling class.

The greatest fear of the middle class in America is not the immigration of Mexicans, but the politics of tyranny. In voting, we have a vehicle that seemingly allows us to change our reality, but it doesn’t often happen. I think it is because of our problems with choice and the question of where our true loyalties lie. Case in point, the entire factions of the American populace that are convinced the Rapture is upon us and the current war in Iraq is beginning of the end times. Thus, instead of seeking peace, they seek policies that stay the course on the road to Armageddon. Does voting become the tool of those in power to maintain power? You Bet.
How long will the Katharine Harris’s of the world be allowed to defame democracy and come out on top? Until we use the ballot box to create change or the world explodes.

The problem is that not enough Americans vote. In the past I have advocated for compulsory voting practices, three day elections, and even making election days national holidays. I stress voting as a means of creating change, and at the very least as a means of remembering that millions have died to create, protect, and sustain our right to vote no matter who you are. It easily falls on deaf ears. Now with roughly half the total population voting (and that is being kind) all the person needs to win a presidential election in America is get just above a quarter of the total population vote.

We need to solve these issues fast. I think if more people vote and were active in the future of our world, that even if the voting practices are in fact fixed as I believe (http://www.nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html), we shall overcome. Hope still lies in the action of voting here in America. Until we can come together as a nation, people will need to continue to Remember the 5th of November, because we choose not to recognize the greater magnitude of the 7th of November.

Strengh and Honor Comrades.......