Can There Be Any Doubt Now That American Democracy Is Finished?

Leading up to the mid-term congressional elections I had many a conversation with friends who were estatic about the impending Democratic take over. The endless Republican scandals spelled doom for the party, my friends insisted, and Bush's wave of terror on both the Iraqi and American people would soon come to an end.

My expectations were far less optimistic. The Republican alternative was just not all that great to begin with. As the loyal opposition the Democrats have done little to protect the interests of the American people in the face of the Constitution-busting Bush juggernaught. One party rule has certainly enabled the Bush administration to steam roll over our democracy. But the Democrats give new meaning to the phrase "who needs enemies when we've got friends like these?" Having done absolutely nothing of substance to even attempt to slow the Republican roll, minority party or not, the Democrats were no more likely to change the course of the country while in a position of power, either. They, too, are slaves to corporate interests just like their pachydermal cousins.

Not to mention, we have suffered two elections packed with vote fraud that virtually no one within the political elite lifted a finger to address in any substantial way. We know Gore actually won, and it appears that Kerry probably did too, despite himself. The mainstream media waited until the last minute to focus on our broken democratic process, and in doing so at such a focused and intense level just prior to the election may have made voters feel powerless and stay home. After all, those Diebold machines weren't going to accurately register your choice anyway, so why bother showing up to the polls?

But no matter how much Karl Rove insisted he was Archimedes, and the mainstream pundits minimized the sound beating about to be doled out to their great white hope, the Democrats swept both the House and the Senate. Pundits were reluctantly forced to conclude that the vote was a referendum on the Iraq War and Republican malfeasance - and the American people gave a resounding "NO!!!!" to the whole kit and kaboodle. The world engaged in a collective sigh of relief as it became clear that the American people were not completely out of the minds after all.

This December 1 NYTimes article by David Sanger, however, confirms my prediction that none of it would matter anyway. The Democrats are soundly in bed with the Republicans on this thing. Liberals have been making excuses for this completely lame, so-called party of the people based on their inability to wield power from a minority position. I can think of at least two different minority groups in world history that made their all-powerful opposition eat it. The Democratic Party is for the most part composed of a group of rich white American men - the most powerful and privileged people in the history of the world! So what's their fucking excuse?

Wake up America! The first step to recovery is admitting we are in denial. We can call Chavez authoritarian all we want, but at least he won an overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan votes cast - twice. We can no longer call it a democracy when the people we vote for refuse to do what we've voted them in to do.

Technorati Tags: Iraq - Chavez - republican scandals - vote fraud - mainstream media - democrats

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