I know a guy who doesn't vote, and you probably know him too. He is intensely political, laughs at the video of Virginia Senator George Allen calling an Indian kid "Macaca" and can rattle off the President's approval rating by six independent polling agencies.
You probably know his gripe with the system already. Each party is too similar, too huge and overrun with partisan tools competent in no art, save the clever arrangement of talking points to mimic original thought. They seek power — which in itself is not an evil enterprise — but are willing to bend their core beliefs to get it. The two party system, he asserts, is destroying America and the impending circus that is the midterm elections acts as another reminder that change for the sake of change isn't improvement and neither party is capable of improving America in a fundamental way.
He is probably right. Voter turnout shows nearly half of Americans have given up on our system, yet they gladly live under it. The brilliance of two bloated and diverse parties is the stability they offer. By historical standards for the nation state, ours is not broken, so why take the risk of fixing it? This is a pessimistic view of our government, and it is not my intent to discourage you from voting. Rather, I want to show you just how stupid our friend is.
Our system is empowered by the disaffected masses whose feeble protest is to sit at home and whine to their like-minded friends every November. With a small population to satisfy, each party can engineer majorities by pandering to the most important special interests and giving lip service to those who don't really matter. Since the major parties don't have to compete for his vote and the smaller ones wither away without his support, our friend must take the majority of the blame for our unrepresentative political culture. How can you blame Democrats and Republicans for believing in something when you are too hopeless and defeated to stand up for your own?
The A-B conversation continues in Wisconsin as Green Party candidate Nelson Eisman was not invited to the gubernatorial debate. Further, he didn't even know about it until The Badger Herald called him for a reaction.
Eisman's exclusion from the debate is an amazingly concise metaphor for the state of our democracy. The third party is not even invited to the discussion. It is understandable that Jim Doyle does not want to cover his left flank and Mark Green doesn't want to be drowned out by two liberal voices. Regardless, it would be admirable if either would put aside his quest for power in favor of doing a service for Wisconsin voters. Then again, I doubt we will see a real discussion, instead expect a showcase of talking points and skewed statistics.
The College Democrats and Republicans ought to use their unique influence to lobby for Green Party inclusion to the debate. If they truly hold strong convictions about their party platforms, why decrease the number of students tuning in by shunning a favorite candidate? Don't Democrats on campus relish a chance to show their ideological cousins why their brand of liberalism is superior?
It seems as if even the young members of each party have been tainted by the cloud of power and conflict that taints our political discourse. Bright-eyed idealism is replaced by the crush of expectation and the race against the margin of error.
We can expect a massive accumulation of partisan mud in the weeks leading up to this election. Already the House Majority Leader has accused his Democratic "friends" of being more interested in protecting terrorists than the lives of Americans.
The best any opinion page can hope to be is a forum for open discussion. Liberals who detest the print of right wing opinions are nothing short of pathetic. The self-comfort offered by being preached to by the choir will surely be cancelled out by the lack of power resulting from this ideological xenophobia. In short, we got your back.
Fortunately for those looking to change our political climate, America is angry. Unfortunately, America is fickle, and will not be angry for long. It is an opportune time for supporters of every political party to take a stand against our monopolized political discourse. Popular media simplifies our beings to talking points and TV debate has devolved to the recitation of pre-made arguments. It is time to make a stand and support the inclusion of another perspective in our political discourse. Nelson Eisman should be allowed the chance to debate Jim Doyle and Mark Green.
Bassey Etim ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in Political Science and Journalism.
