Election Day, ah, the Sweet Smell of Democracy

 

Another Election Day is upon us. Here in America it is the best time of the year to express our democratic rights as citizens as we head off to the polls (except for convicted felons, of course, for who could trust them with a ballot?). It should be expected that Election Day, being the holiest of holies of the American system, should shine brilliantly as a beacon to the world of the grandeur of democracy American-style. After all, it is being force-fed to many parts of the world like a sedated prisoner on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay. So just what is American democracy anyway?

As schoolchildren we learn that our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people, it even says so in the Constitution. This gives people a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of their stomachs, and have no doubt that that was its intention, but the truth is somewhat harder to swallow. The Constitution also mentions checks and balances, having the different branches of government keep an eye on each other to keep things in line. To really understand the way government works, we need to look at another form of checks and balances, those exercised by the government over the people.

The American system was never intended to be a government of, by, and for the people. According to James Madison, one of our deified Founding Fathers, government’s main purpose is “to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority.” In other words, all of the country’s elitist bastards, like slaveholders, speculators, landlords, bankers, lawyers, corporations, government officials, etc., should have their interests looked out for above all else. After all, everyone knows these are the powers that control the system, not the common people. So in order to keep the ins in and the rich rich, the people's power had to be checked from the very beginning.

The government employed, and continues to employ, two types of checks and balances, positive and negative. Negative checks, things like racism, sexism, and class division, have served beautifully over the years to keep the masses disunited and quarrelling amongst themselves. As long as they remain fragmented and divided, they can pose no real threat to the system. Positive checks, on the other hand act as rewards for the people to keep them happy and feeling important as the tools of the machine. Patriotism, usually stoked up by invading other countries and condemning their inhabitants as evil haters of American democracy, has been a long-time favorite manifestation of positive checks.

Elections are the cornerstone of the positive check system, being built right into the government itself. The people will feel that they have a choice in how their society is set up and how it operates by casting a vote. What many people fail to realize, however, is that there is actually no choice in an election. No matter who you vote for, government wins. The same government that acts to protect its own interests, along with the interests of its pals in corporate America, by keeping the common people divided and submissive. So cast a "no" vote against government this and every Election Day by staying away from the polling places. Do something constructive instead like taking a walk in the park or doing a jigsaw puzzle.