Sitting
on a rock called Malta, in the middle of the Mediterranean, I’ve spent a
sleepless night watching the US 2012 elections and at the break of dawn,
inspiration struck...the result? A political post!
Remember
ancient Greek Democracy? Where Majority ruled?
So many countries have adopted
the Democratic form of government. I’m not saying it’s the best idea out there,
I believe there are better ones but so far practice has not done justice unto
the theory. It has been said that Democracy is the best form of government
because it’s the only one that’s worked efficiently and considerably fairly for
quite a few decades so far. At the moment, the world looks at America, viewing
it as the superpower and following its lead in many ways. Sure, Russia was a
superpower under the Communist regime, but the human factor was completely lost
and the quality of life has ruined the country and its inhabitants, though the
fact that people had nothing instilled good, non-materialistic values, but that
is drastically changing with today’s younger generation. And sure, China’s
doing economically well, but their Communist regime has a strong Capitalist
back-bone that’s dominating the country’s political situation, which makes a
big difference; the Communist regime has its toll – there’s no freedom or human
rights apart from those of the tiny upper class, while the rest work like
slaves.
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| Communism - great in theory, but practice hasn't done it justice. |
But what
to make of the 2012 US of A elections? Is there really freedom of choice? Or
are the people given an illusion of the freedom to choose?
When
the people have candidates to choose from, 4 of which have been excluded from
debates and left in the shadows, the other 2 prominently in the spotlight,
being Wall street founded and having spent over a million on promotion...or propaganda
if you like, a piece...is there freedom of choice? In reality, does it make
that much of a difference whether Obama or Romney wins? Do people vote for
either because they truly believe in them? How important and precious is a
vote? And does a single vote make a difference?
In
America, majority doesn't rule as such. This Democracy has moved away from the
good, old Greek idea and now uses a point system. How does it work? Every state
is allotted a number of points and whichever candidate gets the most votes in
given state, is awarded all the points. The first person to reach the target of
270 points and above wins the election. Just as early this morning, around 5 am
CET, Obama reached 274 point, courtesy of Ohio. So majority doesn't necessarily
rule. Should that bother us?
Remember when
Bush got elected in 2000? Bush received 271 points, while Al Gore got 266, close
call, right? Well, the fact if the matter is that Bush got 47.9% of the votes,
while Al Gore got 48.4% with almost half a million more votes than Mr W.
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| Year 2000 election map. |
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| Plato's "The Republic" |
Is this
system fair? Is the system Ever fair? I mean, maybe this is the way to handle
democracy, who knows? Have the Americans complained much? (Let us not get into
Occupy because that’s a whole other story and a movement which I strongly
support) Do you see Americans asking to re-count their votes? Think of Russian
and the anti-Putin opposition protests... or of Ukraine’s election which was
held merely a few days ago, people are protesting and asking to have the votes
recounted...but that’s impossible because some bulletins are missing and some
have simply been destroyed... So what’s there to do? Hold another election? As
if that’s going to happen!! The only change will have been that the government
will have given in and the opposition and the people would feel more powerful
and the protests would only get worse. Plato, for one, was against democracy because
he thought it was the “power of the mob”, rather than the “power of the people”!
Did you
notice the other candidates at the America elections? “Russia Today” hosted
a third party debate to give the candidates Jill
Stein - "Green Party" and Gary Johnson - "Libertarian party", as well as Rocky Anderson - "Justice Party" and Virgil Goode - "Constitution party" some
exposure and a chance to exercise the right that they have been denied – to
express their opinions. I can’t help but feel sympathy towards the other candidates,
especially Jill Stein. It feels like these candidates try to expose more
truthful and controversial ideas, more openly and fearlessly tackling issues
that Romney and Obama hardly touched upon in their debate.
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| Third party debate. Photo: Scott Olson. |
Facing this
choice – one or the other, are the people of America really choosing for their
country? Voting for, say, the Green party would be merely a form of rebellion,
rather than a choice, because we all know that in our time, the Green parties
round the world don’t stand a chance, as much as we need them to promote a
different view and give us a glimpse of a promise of change. We need someone to
speak out and voice what neither of the leading candidates will say, someone
has to keep them on their toes. You can also see the choice as choosing the “lesser
of two evils” as Ralph Nader described this election.
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| Mr Obama - 4 more years. |
Obama has
done pretty well in his 4 years as commander and chief. Troops are slowly being
withdrawn from war zones, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been revoked, gay
marriage is now legal in states like New York; in my opinion, maybe the
intervention in the Arab Spring was a little too much (we know that America has
a habit of imposing Democracy and freedom on countries that rise up against
their regime, if it’s in the interests of the US of course), but overall, lots
of positive change must be noted the US. We can’t be too harsh on Obama, we can’t
expect someone to change the world in a span of 4 years, it takes time. I think
some people take the fact that a president is a human being for granted
sometimes...he’s not superman. Of course, more can always be done and one can
always strive to carry things out in a better way but there are only so many
hours in a day and only so many issues can be addressed in those hours, so as
much as we love to criticize, we have to give Mr President the benefit of noticing
the good too.
Still, I can’t
help but wonder, how is it freedom of choice when the people are given two
puppets and must pick one...the choice here is an illusion, but it seems to
keep the people happy, and more importantly keep the people in check. At the
end of the day, we don’t really make the decision ourselves; we are offered
something that makes us feel as if we are making the choice.
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| Wake up! |
To conclude,
I’d like to say that all the above in merely opinions, ideas and a few facts.
All I want, is to spark an interest, and if successful, my greatest hope is
that you will go and research this for yourself, questions everything and most
importantly – think, Think, THINK. What happens in the USA affects us all in
one way or another. Now Obama, with over 100 points ahead of Romney has won and
can carry on with his duties as President. There’s nothing else we can do at
this point, or nothing much anyone can do, except for educate ourselves and be
prepared for the fact that the state of the world isn’t all flowers and candy
floss; open your eyes to the fact that we are being manipulated and fooled into
becoming mindless sheep, because an obedient herd is easier to control; and
break through the veil of ignorance which obscures our true mind’s eye. Escape the
cave! Only you can emancipate yourself, the true choice to make here is not to
follow carelessly and submit but to choose to be an independent thinker!
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| Choose to open your eyes and think, Think THINK! Pic by pincel3d. |
I
believe my favourite poem, by Percy Bysshe Shelley is most relevant here.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I sign off with “Political Greatness”.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I sign off with “Political Greatness”.
Nor
happiness, nor majesty, nor fame,
Nor peace, nor strength, nor skill in arms or
arts,
Shepherd those herds whom Tyranny makes tame;
Verse echoes not one beating of their hearts;
History is but the shadow of their shame;
Art veils her glass, or from the pageant
starts,
As to Oblivion their millions fleet
Staining that Heaven with obscene imagery
Of their own likeness. What are numbers knit
By force or custom? Man, who man
would be,
Must rule the empire of himself; in it
Must be supreme, establishing his throne
On vanquish'd will, quelling the anarchy
Of hopes and fears, --- being himself alone.
