CORRUPTION OF DEMOCRACY

A person I respect claimed to vote for the “candidate” and not the “party”. He claimed to base his selection on the feeling of trust he had for the person. This exchange caused me to think about what has changed in politics over the years—something as fundamental to American democracy as the shift from the 99% to the 1% that I blogged about before.

When I watch votes in congress, there is one outstanding factor. Members of the Republican Party vote the party leader’s desires and members of the Democratic Party vote the desires of their leader’s desire.  Think back to the political campaigns these people conducted. They were personality plus, used familiar nicknames, smiled a lot, shook hands and kissed babies and most of all told the people what they wanted to hear. People tended to like them and trust them, which was the whole idea behind their behavior. Once elected, things changed. Take for example the vote to eliminate oil subsidies to companies making billions in profit.  It would be a slam-dunk decision, in the campaign area. No one would like a guy who wanted to continue the taxpayers give away. What happened? We still have the subsidies! Why? Because, the REPUBLICAN PARTY, not the individuals you voted for because he or she was a nice person.

Party matters. There has been a slowly developing fundamental change in our democracy spanning a couple of hundred years. I know the way it is, is bad, both you and I know it is bad but we also know we are stuck with it. Political operatives, such as Karl Rove, his predecessor Newt Gingrich, and many, many more, have made it that way through manipulation of the voting process. They, as well as the candidates, know the people will not vote for them if they tell the truth. They also know the Republican Party will not fund their campaigns unless they vote the way the Party wants them to vote once elected. The solution to the dilemma; lie on the campaign trail and vote the way the party tells them to vote once elected and they get all the money they can use. If a rogue gets elected, the party prevents them from being appointed to any committees or other wise punish them. How else can you explain what we see everyday in State House around the country and in Washington. No jobs bill, no infrastructure bills because they want to hurt President Obama in spite of the fact they hurt themselves and their country. In addition to the induced lying, we are seeing a plethora of voter suppression laws and intentional voter delays in blue-collar areas, passing laws to prevent early voting thus crowd the voting booths on Election Day, to steal the election from the Democrats. In the words of the Wisconsin voters, the ones who did not sell their votes to Scott Walker, I say Shame. Shame, Shame.

All I can do is ask my respected friend to reconsider the way he decides on whom he wants elected. Look as see what their party is doing, and not what the candidate says on the campaign stump. As an aside I am as proud of the way the Democratic Party conducts its self as I am ashamed of the way the Republican Party behave, now he too can decide for himself.