Which knee is jerking most?

Tomorrow, Americans will go to the polls with a more confused attitude than at any other time in decades. Dissatisfied, disillusioned, angry, and frustrated, the question in most voters' minds will be "Does anyone deserve my vote?"

Voters will not be able, in most cases, to choose candidates who represent "a better path", for they can't SEE a better path. Given that BOTH major parties and their candidates have demonstrated nothing to admire, choosing the "lesser of two evils" has become clear reality... two evils indeed. But which is lesser? The easy answer is to hold the President's party responsible for the disastrous state of affairs and, via the ballot, to cleanse us of them. Clearly, Republicans deserve that result, but many thinking voters must realize that in order to rid ourselves of Republicans, they are left will the fatal alternative of Democrats sweeping into office, and that alternative has become almost equally ugly.

Most Americans have, time after time, gullibly accepted the fatal alternative forced upon America by the two major political parties. In the process, those voters have rejected other alternatives, such as Libertarian party candidates, on grounds that have nothing to do with choosing a better path for our nation. Many of those voters, even while knowing that voting Libertarian is choosing a better path, have nevertheless not given them their votes either because they "couldn't win" or because they were so incensed at one major party that they could do nothing other than try to keep them from winning... hence casting their vote for candidates and a party they shared no ideals with.

We are reaping now the harvest of misguided voter thinking. To be more honest and blunt, we are all suffering from voters who didn't think much at all, but simply accepted whichever knee jerked the most. Such voters have often declared themselves INDEPENDENTS, a declaration that neither major party deserved their support.

Declaring oneself as an independent is often no more than an evasion of responsibility. Such voters declare that they choose the best candidates, not a party, but that evades the clear knowledge that the two parties RUN our government, have knowingly approved those candidates, and control those who are elected.

By choosing from endorsed candidates of either old party, regardless of your good intentions, and no matter what your incentive, you add to the continuing condemnation of America to suffer under the corruption of power politics. Acceptance of candidates of either of the two dominant parties only strengthens their combined stranglehold on the choices we have. Thanks to choosing the lesser of two evils, we have placed ourselves between the proverbial rock and hard place, with NO choice being reasonable.

Other parties, no matter how durable, or persistent, or determined, can survive forever under such conditions. The voters MUST give themselves the opportunity of more and better choices by TAKING those choices when they're made available, rather than writing them off as impractical non-winners. Choosing a better alternative, even if that alternative doesn't win, increases the chance that, NEXT TIME, the alternative will be there again and will be more successful.

We MUST learn to vote for what we WANT, not for what we're reluctantly willing to accept, because our choices determine what our future choices will be. By lazily not looking beyond the media coverage of only two choices, and by gullibly buying into the straw-man games played by the D's and R's, Americans are condemning themselves to being able to choose only between two equally corrupt, intellectually deceptive parties who are, step by deliberate step, turning what was once a beacon of freedom to the world into a hated, despotic empire.

Recognize that, several days before a national election, the biggest political discussion is primarily about a muffed joke by Kerry, and you'll see that American major-party politics no longer has ANYTHING to do with issues or ideals... it has become a pathetic game of playing to our last-minute knee jerks.

Do you WANT alternatives? Do you want to break the stranglehold of two corrupt parties on our electoral system? We are the only large "democratic" nation with only two major parties, and it is driving us in a direction very few of us can stomach. Throwing out one set of ruffians for another virtually identical set is NOT a solution. We've been doing that for a very long time, and the results continue to worsen. There is only one way to break that stranglehold, and, like all revolutions, it requires some effort. Seek out and think about alternative parties. When you find one that believes nearer to what you believe, put your support behind it, regardless of that party's chance of winning. With enough help, the chances will improve, and even before winning elections, your chosen party will have a political effect.

We know that about 15% of American voters hold essentially libertarian positions. Imagine the effect 15% of the vote would have on our political arena. Imagine the wake-up call to D's and R's... the fear that the 15% would grow... the elections that 15% would decide. Would politicians think twice about proposing corrupt legislation? Would it change legislative votes? You know damned well it would, even if NO libertarians had been elected.

If George W. Bush had known that the 15% of American voters would not continue to fall for the lesser of two evils trick... that they would have instead have rallied behind the Libertarian Party in clear opposition, do you think he would have invaded Iraq? I really doubt it, because nothing... absolutely nothing... means more to the Democratic and Republican parties than enough votes to continue their lucrative, corrupting power mongering.

America... a nation that once had dozens of competing political parties... has meekly allowed two parties to strangle our political process and turn a once-great nation into a hated, aggressive monster. If you want that to stop, then GET OFF YOUR REAR and do something about it. If this really is a nation OF, BY, and FOR the people, then take some action to get it back under our control. Stop excusing the crooks you voted for last time... stop falling for knee-jerk slogans that mean nothing, like "support our troops", "stay the course", and "cut and run", and stop accepting the fatal alternative of D or R. If you can't find someone else to vote for, then write in NOTA (none of the above) and exercise your voice that way. Write it boldly, like John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, to insure that the King didn't miss the message.

I close with a classic reminder from Benjamin Franklin:

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.